DayStarter

The day at a glance

Market snapshot

Indian markets were closed on Monday, 14 September, for Ganesh Chaturthi. Tuesday's market data is from the 15 September close.

Equities and sectors

Nifty 50 opened 178 points higher at 23,576, helped by IT stocks. The early rise faded quickly. The index moved below 23,400 by around 10 AM, below 23,300 after 1 PM, and below 23,200 in the final hour. It closed at 23,118.60, the day's low, almost 460 points below the opening level and down 1.19%. The session high was 23,593 and the low was 23,119.

The Sensex closed at 74,003.82, down 1.04% from 74,781.76. It traded between 73,994.03 and 75,436.44 during the session.

Market breadth was weak. None of the eight broad indices was above all four trend lines, the 20-day, 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages. The weighted trend breadth score was 24 out of 100. None of the 15 sector indices was above all four trend lines either, with a weighted score of 18 out of 100.

Sectoral indices

IT was the only sectoral gainer, rising 2.2%, while Realty fell the most, down 4.0%. None of the 15 sectors was above all four trend lines.

Winners and losers: F&O stocks

Among F&O stocks, HCL Technologies led the gainers, up 4.0%, while Solar Industries fell the most, down 13.9%.

Winners and losers: non-F&O stocks

Among non-F&O Nifty 500 stocks, Tata Chemicals jumped 19.5% and Welspun Corp fell 10.7%. Returns beyond plus or minus 40% were excluded as data anomalies.

Commodities and currency

Among MCX futures, crude oil rose 1.70% and copper and aluminium edged higher, while gold, silver, natural gas and zinc slipped.

• The rupee weakened by 34 paise to close at 95.88 per US dollar after opening at 95.84. It had closed at 95.54 on Friday. The euro was at ₹110.71 and the pound at ₹129.35.
• India's 10-year benchmark government bond yield has risen 20 basis points over the past month to 7%. The US 10-year Treasury yield moved above 5% for the first time since October 2023.
• Brent crude reached $107.35 a barrel and WTI reached $103.53, with oil prices up nearly 2%. The Indian crude basket was at $128.70 a barrel on 14 September. Its August average was $90.19, up from $82.04 in July.
• Gold traded around $4,300 an ounce, near a five-week low. Global physically backed gold ETFs recorded an eighth straight week of inflows, with net inflows of $1.55 billion last week after $4.02 billion and $3.99 billion in the previous two weeks.

Options positioning

Options positioning also showed pressure around the 24,000 level. Open interest in the Nifty 24,000 put expiring on 29 September fell to 93,151 contracts on Friday from 112,981 the previous Monday. The 24,000 call had 130,891 contracts outstanding. Analysts quoted by Mint said the next support is at 23,000 and that the index could move towards around 22,800. The 52-week low is 22,182.55.

Institutional flows

FIIs were net sellers and DIIs were net buyers in all five sessions. Over the five sessions, FIIs sold a net ₹5,053 crore while DIIs bought a net ₹8,539 crore. On 15 September, FIIs sold a net ₹2,978 crore while DIIs bought a net ₹2,686 crore.

The macro view

Trade and the external account

• India's merchandise trade deficit narrowed to $26.86 billion in August from $27.2 billion a year earlier. Exports rose 26.1% year-on-year to $43.8 billion, while imports rose 14.1% to $70.6 billion. After including services, the overall trade deficit narrowed to $9.41 billion from $11.62 billion. Total exports of goods and services rose 25.4% to $82.7 billion.
• The August merchandise deficit was also lower than July's $31.98 billion. August exports were the highest for the month in a decade. Gold imports fell to $2.3 billion from $4.16 billion in July. From April to August, merchandise exports rose 17.85% to $215.91 billion and imports rose 18.21% to $363 billion. The US was India's largest export destination at $42.79 billion.
• India's crude oil import bill reached $63.37 billion by July, 56% higher than a year earlier. A sustained $1 increase in crude oil prices can add about ₹18,000 crore to India's annual import bill.
• India's current account deficit widened to $7 billion in July from $3.2 billion a year earlier. The merchandise trade deficit increased to $31.7 billion from $28.2 billion, while the net services surplus rose to $17.6 billion from $16.4 billion. Net FDI inflows increased to $7.3 billion from $4.5 billion, and net FPI recorded a $4.1 billion inflow, compared with a $2.5 billion outflow in July 2025. The overall balance of payments showed a surplus of $20.8 billion. For April to July, the current account deficit was $11.2 billion, compared with $6.6 billion a year earlier.

Prices

Retail inflation rose to 4.82% in August, a 20-month high and above the RBI's 4% target midpoint for the third straight month. Wholesale inflation rose slightly to 9.92% from 9.78% in July. The RBI's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for 5 to 7 October.

Jobs

India's unemployment rate stayed at 5% in August. Urban unemployment edged up to 6.8% from 6.7%, while rural unemployment fell to 4.1% from 4.5%. The labour force participation rate rose to 55.6% from 55.4% in July. Female labour force participation increased to 34.8% from 34.4%, and the worker population ratio rose to 52.8% from 52.5%.

Policy and infrastructure

• UPI charges: From 15 October, a 0.4% merchant discount rate will apply to person-to-merchant UPI transactions above ₹2,000. The fee is capped at ₹300 for transactions of ₹75,000 and above. Person-to-person transfers remain free. The finance ministry said only about 4% of merchant transactions will be affected.
• Digital rupee: The new UPI merchant charge could help the government and RBI develop retail central bank digital currency use cases, especially for subsidies. The government is finalising retail CBDC use cases, beginning with agriculture subsidies. The first pilot, likely for direct benefit transfers, is expected in six to seven months.
• Trade diplomacy: Commerce minister Piyush Goyal will attend the G20 trade ministerial in Milwaukee from 30 September and is expected to meet US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The India-New Zealand free trade agreement is likely to come into force late next month, and India and China have started discussions on bilateral trade concerns.
• Shipbuilding: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders will invest about ₹27,000 crore in a greenfield shipbuilding cluster at Dighi Port in Raigad district. The project targets annual capacity of at least 2 million gross tonnes and is expected to generate 90,000 jobs.
• Pumped storage: India needs an estimated ₹7.36 trillion of investment to build 122.77 GW of pumped storage capacity across 87 projects.
• Cement standards: The consumer affairs ministry plans to require a three-month shelf life for specialised cement, along with faster testing and more detailed batch information.
• Himalayan insurance: Insurance rates for roads and bridges rose about 21%, from 0.43 to 0.52 per thousand of sum insured, after the 2023 Sikkim glacial lake outburst flood. NHPC's insurance premiums rose 72% to ₹1,058.68 crore in FY26 from ₹613.63 crore in FY25. Insurers are also assessing premium increases after the 26 August Nepal floods.
• Regulation: Sebi proposed reducing disaster recovery drills for market infrastructure institutions to at least four hours from a full trading day. Separately, the Delhi High Court ordered the income tax department to refund about ₹783 crore with interest to Teva Israel within two months, quashing proceedings linked to a Ranbaxy deal.
• Growth commentary: Chief economic adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran urged the private sector to continue investing, hiring and paying workers fairly. India also recorded a new high in soyoil imports in August, while palm oil purchases rose to a six-month high.

Why reducing government debt matters

India's average general government debt was 84.8% of GDP over 2022 to 2024, with interest payments at 5.1% of GDP. China's debt was 84% of GDP, but interest payments were 0.93% of GDP. India's interest-to-GDP ratio of around 5% is also well above the 2.1% median for large emerging market economies.

Around 25% of government revenue in India goes towards interest payments. An IMF study cited by Mint uses a 16% to 19% range as a level associated with likely fiscal stress. The Centre's tax revenue has remained at around 10% to 11% of GDP for more than two decades.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirmed the target of reducing the Centre's debt to 50% of GDP by 2030. Mint also noted that ratings outlooks for Indonesia, with debt at 41% of GDP, and Mexico, at 62%, were revised from stable to negative this year.

Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report

Corporate action and earnings

Domestic headlines

Tata Sons and the RBI

Tata Group stocks rose after reports that the RBI rejected Tata Sons' application to surrender its Core Investment Company registration. TCS, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Technologies and Tata Elxsi gained 2% to 5%, while Shapoorji Pallonji Group-linked stocks also rose. The RBI is understood to have filed a caveat in the Bombay High Court on Monday. Tata Trusts want Tata Sons to ask the RBI to reconsider and clarify its decision before taking legal action. The Tata Sons board meets on 17 September.

Afcons Infrastructure

Afcons shares rose as much as 20% intraday on Tuesday before closing 3.5% higher. Promoter Shapoorji Pallonji owns 50% of Afcons and 18% of Tata Sons. Interest expenses used up about 69% of Afcons' EBITDA in Q1FY27. The company had an order book of ₹43,300 crore at the end of Q1FY27.

Solar Industries

Solar Industries shares fell to ₹19,250 after its subsidiary agreed to acquire South Africa-based Omnia Holdings for about $1.36 billion, or ₹12,951 crore, in an all-cash deal at ZAR 134.5 per share. Managing director Manish Nuwal said revenue could rise to around ₹32,000 crore in two years and EBITDA could exceed ₹7,000 crore by FY28, compared with FY26 revenue of ₹9,838 crore and EBITDA of ₹2,750 crore. He ruled out equity dilution and said the acquisition will be funded by debt on Omnia's books.

IT rally

Indian IT stocks rose after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slower advances in AI model capabilities, with xAI's Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman backing his view. HCL Technologies rose 4.0%, Infosys 3.7%, MphasiS 3.6%, and TCS and Tech Mahindra 2.5% each.

NSE IPO

NSE's ₹22,569 crore IPO opens on 17 September at a price band of ₹1,700 to ₹1,785 per share. Mint said this is roughly a 30% discount to BSE on FY27 earnings estimates. The upper end of the band is about 6% below NSE's latest unlisted price of around ₹1,900. Grey market activity points to an 11% to 12% listing premium. NSE's monthly derivatives turnover fell to ₹33.5 trillion in August from ₹42.6 trillion in July, and its share of the equity options premium market fell to 68.5% in Q1FY27 from nearly 97% in FY24.

Hero Motors IPO

Hero Motors' ₹1,000 crore IPO opens on Wednesday and closes on Friday at a price band of ₹79 to ₹84 per share. It includes a ₹600 crore fresh issue and a ₹400 crore offer for sale. E-mobility revenue rose from ₹128.1 crore in FY24 to ₹273.3 crore in FY26, and net profit increased from ₹17 crore to ₹41.2 crore. Its largest customer contributed 35.6% of FY26 revenue.

PhonePe

PhonePe is considering restarting its IPO process after the introduction of a 0.4% MDR on large UPI merchant transactions. Before pausing the process, the company was targeting a valuation of $9 billion to $10.5 billion.

General insurance

India's general insurance premiums rose 10% year-on-year to ₹27,454 crore in August. Acko's premiums rose 42.7% to ₹285 crore, Niva Bupa's rose 37.5% to ₹843 crore and Star Health's rose 20% to ₹1,709 crore. New India Assurance grew 6.5% and Go Digit grew 5.1%.

Embassy Developments

Embassy Developments plans two residential projects in Bengaluru with estimated revenue potential of ₹4,500 crore. One project includes 217 villas starting at ₹14 crore. The company has a FY27 sales booking target of ₹8,000 crore, backed by a ₹19,500 crore launch pipeline.

Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda's anti-money laundering unit sent at least three alerts on alleged round-tripping by the NMC Group from 2016. The bank still sanctioned fresh loans and bank guarantees to the group between September 2017 and June 2019, according to emails and court documents reviewed by Mint. B.R. Shetty and his firms owed the bank ₹2,077 crore as of May 2020, while the bank's settlement in the case was ₹5,736 crore.

Startups and venture capital

AI interactive content company Flam raised $40 million in a Series B round led by QED Investors and is targeting $100 million in annual recurring revenue over the next 18 to 24 months. Peak XV Partners managing director Sakshi Chopra said the firm sees opportunities in wealth management, wellness and premium consumer businesses. Recent deals include Scapia's $63 million round and Nua's $50 million round.

E-commerce pricing rules

The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Amendment Rules, 2026, were notified on 10 September and take effect on 1 January 2027. When a discount is announced, platforms must show both the reduced price and the lowest price offered during the previous 30 days. Beco's head of global sales, Sourabh Narula, said 25% to 27% of the company's monthly sales currently happen in the first seven days of the month.

Consumer

Amazon said its India quick-delivery service, Amazon Now, has crossed $1 billion in annualised gross revenue and aims to expand to 100 cities by Diwali from more than 60. At Titan SKINN, products priced above ₹3,000 now make up 15% to 20% of the value mix.

Cement

Average pan-India trade cement prices could rise by ₹10 per bag month-on-month to ₹330 in September. Industry volume growth in July and August is estimated at 6% to 7% year-on-year.

Tech and regulation

The Delhi High Court issued notice to OpenAI on ANI's appeal in its copyright lawsuit, with the next hearing in December. Meta will report child sexual abuse material directly to India's I4C cybercrime portal. The Central Consumer Protection Authority is also examining Apple's software warranty terms related to the iOS 18 update.

Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report

Upcoming events

The source documents did not carry a dated schedule for dividends, corporate actions or earnings. For scrip-level corporate actions, refer to the NSE and BSE corporate announcement pages or the Tijori App.

Global pulse

Global index moves

US markets fell modestly on Monday. CrowdStrike was the top S&P 500 performer, up 14%, while Corning, Teradyne and Coherent fell 12% or more. The PHLX Semiconductor Index dropped 5.9%, its worst day since July, and the S&P 500 banking index fell 2.7%.

Energy, rates and geopolitics

• Oil supply: Oil prices rose nearly 2% after Houthi attacks left Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline offline. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz also fell sharply, talks over the waterway stalled, and drone attacks on Russian refineries reduced diesel production. Analysts estimated that at least 2.5 million barrels a day were stranded by the pipeline shutdown. US diesel prices reached a record $6.23 a gallon.
• Red Sea: Yemen's Houthi rebels seized Mokha on Thursday and Perim Island in the 18-mile-wide Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Friday. Ukraine said it hit Russia's Syzran refinery. Kyiv and Moscow both said there was no agreement on the energy truce claimed by US President Donald Trump.
• US yields and the Fed: The US 10-year Treasury yield moved above 5% for the first time since October 2023 as investors expected interest rates to stay higher for longer. Futures markets put the probability of a Fed rate increase at Wednesday's meeting above 90%. Three Fed presidents voted against holding rates steady in July and preferred an increase.
• China property: New home prices in China fell 0.1% month-on-month in August. The year-on-year decline narrowed to 3% from 3.2% in July. Prices in tier-one cities rose 0.1%, while tier-two and tier-three cities continued to fall.

Global corporate

• Bank of America: Shares fell more than 5% after CEO Brian Moynihan said third-quarter investment banking fees are expected to fall by at least 10%, while sales and trading revenue is expected to be roughly flat.
• AI trade: Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta Platforms each rose 2% or more on Monday after AI leaders called for a slowdown in development. President Trump wrote on Truth Social that there is a conspiracy against AI and data centers. Nvidia acquired Hugging Face on 3 September for $12.9 billion.
• Meta Platforms: Meta rose 2.7% on Monday to $665.60. The stock is 22% above its August low and is on course for its strongest monthly gain since May 2025. Meta's $18 billion settlement of its social-media lawsuit removed a legal overhang, and JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight last week.
• Gulf data centers: Amazon Web Services facilities in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain that were damaged by Iranian drones remain mostly offline more than six months after the attacks. More than 130 computing services are disrupted in Abu Dhabi and 140 in Bahrain. The UAE has faced more than 2,800 drones and missiles during the war.

The Wall Street Journal in Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report

Management chatter

The remarks below are reproduced verbatim from the source documents.

Feature: UPI merchant charges above ₹2,000 from 15 October

A 0.4% merchant discount rate will apply to larger UPI merchant payments. Customers are not charged, person-to-person transfers remain free, and qualifying small merchants stay exempt.

What changed

On 15 September, the finance ministry announced a 0.4% merchant discount rate, or MDR, on person-to-merchant UPI transactions above ₹2,000. The fee is capped at ₹300 per transaction once the payment reaches ₹75,000. The framework starts on 15 October. Person-to-person transfers remain free at every value. The ministry also said the MDR is a charge within the merchant payments system and is not a charge on customers.

The fee works as follows: a merchant receiving ₹3,000 pays ₹12, and on ₹50,000 the fee is ₹200. On a ₹1 lakh payment, 0.4% would equal ₹400, but the ₹300 cap applies. The government estimates that only around 4% of merchant transactions will be affected because most payments are below ₹2,000 or fall under the zero-MDR small-merchant category.

How the framework developed

The change came in two steps. The Centre amended the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, creating a legal framework for payment modes on which charges can be waived. On 14 September, a gazette notification barred banks and payment system providers from charging for UPI transactions up to ₹2,000 and for RuPay debit card payments. On the following day, NPCI issued a detailed circular covering operating rules, fee distribution and category-wise caps.

Pressure to revisit zero MDR had been building for years. The Payments Council of India, whose members include Airtel Payments Bank, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Cashfree and Jio Payments Bank, wrote to the Prime Minister's Office asking for a rethink. Banks separately sought fees on merchants with annual turnover above ₹40 lakh. The RBI and NPCI had also asked the government to revisit the policy. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that “someone has to pay the cost”, while adding that the final decision rests with the government. The government has also supported low-value UPI payments through an incentive scheme that pays 0.15% on P2M transactions up to ₹2,000 for small merchants, backed by a ₹1,500 crore outlay for 2024-25.

The fine print: tiered charges

The framework starts on 15 October 2026. Credit-linked UPI payments, such as RuPay credit cards on UPI, continue to follow separate card rules. The flat ₹5 fee for essential sectors is intended to keep charges predictable for critical services. This category represents nearly 17% of P2M transaction volume but roughly 46% of P2M value.

Small merchants are more protected. Vendors receiving up to ₹1 lakh a month through UPI QR codes remain at zero MDR. Acquiring banks will use a velocity check, moving a merchant into the standard P2M category only after three consecutive months above that limit. UPI apps are not allowed to add platform fees or hidden charges, and banks must ensure merchants do not pass the MDR on to customers. Individuals do not face monthly quotas or tiered caps on free usage, and existing daily transaction limits of ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh continue to act as risk controls, not fee tiers.

The scale behind the decision

UPI processed 241.6 billion transactions worth ₹314.2 trillion in FY26. Transaction volume rose 30% and value rose 21%. UPI had more than 55 crore users as of August 2026. In August alone, the system processed 24.5 billion transactions worth ₹29.8 lakh crore.

Person-to-merchant payments made up 63% of UPI transaction volume in August. Of these, 86% were below ₹500 and another 10% were between ₹501 and ₹2,000. By value, P2M payments represented 30% of the total. NPCI says MDR revenue, which will be shared among banks and app providers, will help fund infrastructure resilience, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, innovation and customer service. The aim is to create a predictable funding source instead of relying entirely on annual government incentives.

Winners, worries and ripple effects

For payment companies, the framework creates a new revenue stream. PhonePe, which paused its IPO in March because of market volatility and geopolitical tensions, is now evaluating a restart. It had been considering a valuation of $9 billion to $10.5 billion. Its draft papers had argued that a carefully designed MDR system could give payment companies a stronger commercial reason to keep investing.

Girish Krishnan, director of payments at Amazon Pay India, said the company was reassured that small payments up to ₹2,000 remain free. Kunal Jhunjhunwala, founder of Airpay Payment Services, said the main question is whether the revenue will be shared fairly with fintechs that helped expand digital payments among merchants. He also said companies have only a month to explain the new cost to merchants and rebuild back-end systems.

The MDR could also help the government and RBI expand the digital rupee. People aware of the development told Mint that some users and merchants may shift towards CBDC wallets because they carry no MDR, and they viewed the new charge as a possible first phase of a broader UPI pricing framework. Former RBI deputy governor R. Gandhi said merchants can choose to accept CBDC to avoid the charge, but also noted that retail CBDC is still in the pilot stage. It remains invite-only at most banks, and the first government use case, likely direct benefit transfers, is expected in six to seven months.

The decision also became a political issue. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described the levy as a “surrender” to American pressure. The BJP responded that the Congress was spreading “fake news” and pointed to the government's statement that customers will not be charged.

Mint, Mumbai print edition, 16 September 2026; The Tribune (including PTI); Business Today; Inc42; Deccan Herald

Closing note

Market data: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 15 September 2026 close. Macro and corporate: Mint, Mumbai print edition, 16 September 2026. Feature: Mint and named external sources. This is a news aggregation brief. It carries no analysis, opinion or investment advice.