DayStarter

The day at a glance

Market snapshot

Equities and sectors

The Nifty 50 opened at 23,330, 15 points below the previous close. It dipped towards 23,360 around 10:30 AM, moved to about 23,430 around noon and reached the day high around 2 PM before easing. It closed at 23,414.30, up 0.29%, around 84 points above the opening level. The session range was 23,315 to 23,467. The Sensex rose 564.03 points to 74,858.99.

The broader market was mixed. Nifty Next 50 rose 0.1%, while Midcap 150 fell 0.4%, Smallcap 250 fell 0.1% and Microcap 250 fell 0.1%. Nifty 500 rose 0.1%. Over 20 sessions, the Nifty 50 is down 3.5% and the Nifty 500 is down 2.9%.

The Nifty 50 remained below all four major moving averages. It closed 1.4% below its 20-day average, 2.7% below its 50-day average, 2.2% below its 100-day average and 4.3% below its 200-day average.

Eleven of the 15 sector indices gained. Pharma led with a 1.16% rise, while Metal was the weakest at -0.61%. Pharma and Healthcare were the only sector indices trading above all four trend lines.

Winners and losers

Patanjali Foods was the strongest F&O stock, rising 8.0% on six times its average volume, while Oracle Financial was the weakest, down 8.3%. Outside the F&O universe, Tega Industries rose 9.6% and Jaiprakash Power gained 7.2% on 18 times its average volume.

Commodities and currency

• Crude: Crude oil fell towards $97.3 per barrel, its fourth straight session of losses. Diplomatic efforts to reduce US-Iran tensions and continued shipments through the Strait of Hormuz reduced some supply concerns.
• Currency: The rupee strengthened 18 paise to 95.78 per US dollar. It opened at 95.86, touched 95.72 during the session and had closed at 95.96 on Friday. The dollar index traded at 100.32, up 0.10%.
• Reference rates: The euro reference rate was 109.99 and the pound was 128.24.
• Crude basket: India's crude oil basket averaged around $115 per barrel in September 2026, compared with around $101 for Brent. Higher Oman and Dubai prices pushed the Indian basket higher.
• Yields: The US 10-year Treasury yield fell 5 basis points to 4.95%.

Institutional flows

• FPIs sold Indian shares worth ₹20,974 crore so far in September, after net buying of ₹49,831 crore in July and August.
• The FPI net short position in Nifty and Bank Nifty futures rose to a record 290,546 contracts on Monday from 288,428 on Friday.
• FPI net equity sales were ₹1.27 trillion in FY25, ₹1.8 trillion in FY26 and ₹1.14 trillion in FY27 through 18 September.
• For calendar 2026 to date, overseas investors have sold a net $26.3 billion of Indian equities and bought a net $7.2 billion of debt.

The macro view

Industry and growth

• Core sector output grew 4.8% year-on-year in August, compared with a revised 5% in July. The earlier provisional July estimate was 5.4%. Cement rose 12.5%, electricity 11.6%, iron ore 5.5%, steel 3.4% and refinery products 2.6%. Coal fell 3.8%, natural gas 4.9%, crude oil 3.6% and fertilizers 12.4%.
• Core output grew 4.3% during April-August 2026, compared with 2.4% a year earlier. The eight core industries have a 40.27% weight in the Index of Industrial Production.
• Nearly 40% of coal-fired power plants are running critically low on fuel. Plants with less than 25% of required stock or less than three days of generation increased to 74 as of 19 September from around 60 a week earlier.
• Soyoil imports are forecast to rise 4.2% to a record 5.7 million tonnes in the 2025/26 marketing year ending 31 October, according to Aashish Acharya, vice president at Patanjali Foods.
• ONGC found gas in a Mahanadi deepwater well off the Odisha coast on 18 September.

Payments: UPI merchant fee

• From 15 October, a 0.4% merchant discount rate will apply to person-to-merchant UPI payments above ₹2,000. The fee is capped at ₹300 for transactions of ₹75,000 and above and is paid by merchants. Person-to-person transfers, P2M payments up to ₹2,000 and small merchants receiving up to ₹1 lakh a month remain exempt.
• The government allocated ₹437 crore in FY26 against an estimated network operating cost of ₹20,000 crore. The fee pool is split 40% to issuing banks, 30% to acquiring banks, 20% to third-party application providers and 10% to payer banks. A further 5% is earmarked for a Small Merchant Development Fund.
• Goldman Sachs estimates that the annual industry revenue pool could reach ₹20,600 crore by FY28. PhonePe and Google Pay together account for 78.3% of UPI volume and 81.8% of value.
• More than 95% of P2M transactions are below ₹2,000. The average UPI ticket size fell from ₹1,338 in April 2025 to ₹1,217 in August 2026.
• Reported UPI fraud rose from 407,000 incidents worth ₹242 crore in FY22 to 1.63 million incidents worth ₹1,226.37 crore in FY26 through 15 March.
• A LocalCircles survey of 32,796 businesses found that 41% were unwilling to absorb any MDR on UPI transactions above ₹2,000.

Trade

• The India-New Zealand free trade agreement takes effect on 20 October. New Zealand will give duty-free access on 100% of tariff lines. India will liberalise around 70% of lines, covering around 95% of bilateral trade value. Dairy, peas, onions, chickpeas, almonds and sugar are excluded.
• New Zealand has committed to facilitate up to $20 billion of investment into India over 15 years. The two countries aim to raise bilateral trade to ₹35,000 crore by 2030.
• The next round of India-Canada CEPA talks begins on 5 October. The fourth round ended in New Delhi on 18 September.
• India's exports to BRICS partners rose 34% year-on-year in the fiscal year through August, including a 39% increase in exports to China.

Banking and liquidity

• The RBI accepted ₹25,000 crore in the second tranche of its open-market operation sale. It accepted ₹11,512 crore of 6.10% GS 2031, ₹8,758 crore of 7.95% GS 2032, ₹2,300 crore of 6.75% GS 2029, ₹2,250 crore of 7.17% GS 2030 and ₹180 crore of 7.17% GS 2028. No bids were accepted for 8.28% GS 2027.
• Banking-system liquidity surplus was around ₹6.05 trillion as of 20 September. The final ₹25,000 crore tranche of the ₹1 trillion OMO programme is scheduled for 28 September.
• The finance ministry asked public-sector bank and regional rural bank staff to call off the proposed 28-30 September strike, which overlaps with the half-yearly closing on 30 September. The PLI scheme has been kept in abeyance. Unions have proposed an indefinite strike from 26 October over the five-day-week demand.

Infrastructure and regulation

• NHAI issued a uniform design framework for four- and six-lane access-controlled national highways, excluding expressways. The Viksit Bharat 2047 road map targets 50,000 km of high-speed corridors.
• The DCGI is considering a stock limit for doctors dispensing medicines under Schedule K of the Drugs Rules, 1945. Doctors account for an estimated 5-8% of retail pharmacy volumes in a market worth ₹2-2.2 trillion a year.
• The CCPA is receiving complaints from sectors it does not directly regulate. This includes a Sebi request related to wallet complaints involving market intermediaries. CPGRAMS pendency with states and union territories was 216,032 at the end of June, 26% higher than in December 2025.
• The government notified the dissolution of the Digital Communications Commission, which was formed in 1989 as the Telecom Commission. Its final meeting on 3 September firmed up satellite-spectrum allocation.
• Maharashtra FDA suspended the food licences of 10 establishments, including a Swiggy Instamart dark store at Ballard Estate and an Amazon-linked warehouse.

Jobs

• Global companies including Oracle, PayPal, Amazon, Adidas and Meta cut 12,000-15,000 India roles in the past 12 months. India's top five IT companies reduced headcount by nearly 7,000 in FY26.
• Global capability centres are projected to add 120,000 specialised roles in 2026. The festive season is expected to generate 200,000-250,000 gig and retail jobs.
• Semicon 2.0 and PLI manufacturing are expected to create more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030. IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw projects 50,000-60,000 direct jobs in fabs, ATMP/OSAT and chip design.

Corporate action and earnings

Primary market and deals

NSE's $2.4 billion IPO was subscribed 5.7 times. QIB subscription was 12.7 times, NII 6.5 times and retail 1.3 times. The price band was ₹1,700-1,785. The issue is entirely an offer for sale of about ₹22,600 crore at the top end. The grey-market premium fell to around 3% from a peak of around 16% on 7 September.

• Mastercard-Pine Labs: Mastercard is seeking to sell up to 49.7 million Pine Labs shares, around 4.3% of the company, through a block deal of up to ₹893 crore on Tuesday. The floor price is ₹179.50, a 7.3% discount to Monday's close of ₹193.70. Citigroup is the sole placement agent.
• GAIL Gas: GAIL Gas has started appointing up to four book-running lead managers for an IPO of up to ₹3,100 crore under Asset Monetisation Pipeline 2.0. FY26 turnover was ₹12,681 crore, compared with ₹12,229 crore in FY25.
• Moneyview: Moneyview reduced the size of its IPO, which opens on 24 September, to a fresh issue of ₹750 crore plus an offer for sale of up to 100.49 million shares. The valuation is up to ₹5,985 crore.
• Carlyle: Carlyle is preparing an IPO of up to $400 million for auto-parts platform Highway Roop Precision Technologies, planned for the first half of next year.
• DailyObjects: DailyObjects is finalising a ₹350 crore funding round led by Xponentia Capital with Anicut Capital, at a valuation of around ₹1,000 crore. FY25 operating income was ₹110.3 crore and losses widened to ₹15.91 crore.
• Ampin Energy Transition: Ampin Energy Transition secured up to $100 million in equity from Norway's Norfund, taking total equity raised to nearly $1 billion.
• Asiana Fund: Asiana Fund, the Dani family office, and JC Capital launched a ₹1,000 crore fund for growth-stage manufacturing, semiconductor and defence companies. The fund has a ₹600 crore corpus and a ₹400 crore greenshoe.
• JSW bond issues: JSW Energy plans a bond issue of around ₹1,500 crore and JSW Steel around ₹1,350 crore. The two issues total ₹2,850 crore and are planned for the October-December quarter.
• Dilip Buildcon: Dilip Buildcon signed binding agreements to sell its stake in 10 solar SPVs in Madhya Pradesh to Alpha Alternatives. The estimated project cost is ₹6,263 crore and the enterprise value is around ₹6,829 crore.

Corporate developments

• Temporary workers: Temporary workers make up 83-92% of the workforce at Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Hyundai India, Hero MotoCorp, Samvardhana Motherson and Sona Comstar. At Maruti, the share rose from 71% in FY23 to 87% in FY26. At Motherson, it rose from 35% to 88%.
• UPI MDR impact: Estimated annualised UPI MDR impact is ₹29.9 crore for Nykaa, equal to 2.6% of estimated FY27 EBITDA. The estimate is 2.1% of EBITDA for DMart and around 0.5% for Trent.
• Indian Oil: Indian Oil approved ₹2,448.70 crore for the 424.65 km Kochi-Kanyakumari-Thoothukudi gas pipeline. Capacity will be 6.84 mmscmd, including 1.71 mmscmd of common-carrier capacity.
• Adani-Uzbekistan: Adani Group is in talks with Uzbekistan on four pumped-storage projects totalling around 5 GW. At the CEA benchmark of ₹6 crore per MW, the indicative investment is around ₹30,000 crore.
• Adani Total Gas: Adani Total Gas rose nearly 13% to ₹660.70 on Friday with 39 million shares traded, then fell 3% on Monday. Its market capitalisation is around ₹70,000 crore, compared with ₹20,800 crore for IGL and ₹10,600 crore for MGL. FY26 net profit was ₹656 crore, compared with ₹1,390 crore for IGL and ₹850 crore for MGL. Q1FY27 gross margin was ₹14.60 per standard cubic metre.
• JSW Cement: JSW Cement's Q1FY27 consolidated EBITDA fell 7% year-on-year to ₹299 crore. The Nagaur plant operated at 55% utilisation. The company targets grinding capacity of 35.3 mtpa by 2028, up from 24.1 mtpa. The stock is 21% below its ₹147 IPO price.
• Nayara Energy: The Delhi High Court granted interim relief to Nayara Energy and directed SAP India to restore software services that had been suspended after EU sanctions. Nayara supplies around 8% of India's energy needs.
• Transrail Lighting: Transrail Lighting maintained guidance for 20-22% annual revenue growth. CEO Randeep Narang estimates the domestic transmission opportunity at ₹9.5 trillion through 2032 and has an order-intake plan of ₹10,000-12,000 crore.
• PB Health: PB Health plans to invest around ₹10,000 crore to build a 500-hospital network across 50 cities. It has raised around ₹1,900 crore and currently operates two hospitals in NCR.
• Starbucks: Starbucks will set up a global capability centre in Chennai with around 800 technology roles. India has more than 2,100 GCCs employing around 2.36 million people.
• Tata Sons: The Tata Sons board reappointment vote is being contested by Tata Trusts.

Technology and startups

• JP Morgan: JP Morgan India senior country officer Rahul Badhwar is targeting the top position in wholesale banking. JP Morgan earned around $46 million in India investment-banking fees in 2026 to date, second to Citi, after $116 million in 2025.
• Microsoft: Microsoft will offer Indian clients “full sovereign control” over data residency, data centres and applicable law, one year after the Nayara Azure suspension.
• Meesho: Meesho's June-quarter revenue rose 48% year-on-year to ₹3,713 crore, while losses narrowed to ₹133 crore. Kearney estimates the value lifestyle e-commerce market at $40 billion by 2030.
• Nothing: Nothing will separate its CMF unit into a majority Indian-owned company, according to founder Carl Pei.
• Art auctions: India's art auction market grew from around ₹700 crore in 2020 to more than ₹2,400 crore in 2025, according to Saffronart founder Minal Vazirani.

Upcoming events

Global pulse

Global indices

Macro and markets

• The US 10-year Treasury yield fell 5 basis points to 4.95% as oil prices declined. Bitcoin rose 5.6% in 24 hours to around $84,949, while Ethereum rose around 6%.
• The US Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points on 16 September. The swap market is pricing three more hikes by the end of July. Brent traded above $100 per barrel on Friday.
• SoftBank launched $10 billion of dollar bonds and 1 billion euros of euro bonds to fund its OpenAI investment.
• Volvo Cars named Klaus Zellmer president and CEO, succeeding Hakan Samuelsson no later than 1 October 2027.

Trade and geopolitics

• Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet Donald Trump in Washington on 24 September. The focus is a possible extension of last year's trade truce. China's global trade surplus is on track to exceed $1 trillion for a second straight year. Trump described a pending $14 billion Taiwan arms package as a “negotiating chip”.
• China is more than halfway towards its 25 million tonne US soybean purchase pledge. Progress on a separate $17 billion US farm-purchase pledge has largely stalled, with 2026-27 corn and wheat sales at zero.
• A reciprocal tariff-reduction framework worth $30 billion per side is being negotiated ahead of Xi's US visit.
• Chinese regulators are slowing humanoid-robot IPOs through informal window guidance. Unitree Robotics has fallen 55% from its post-listing peak.

Energy and supply chains

• Average daily VLCC earnings reached $651,107 on Thursday, nearly double the previous week. Hiring a supertanker to move through the Strait of Hormuz cost more than $1 million a day, or around $26 per barrel.
• Saudi crude exports through Hormuz reached 2.9 million barrels per day in recent days, up from 700,000 barrels per day in August after loadings stopped at Yanbu.
• Combined Russian and Ukrainian wheat exports for July-September are estimated at around half of last year's level. The two countries account for more than one-quarter of global wheat trade. Wheat prices are at three-year highs.
• Houthi forces are trying to seize the Kahboub heights in Taiz and Lahij. The UN reports nearly 700 deaths and more than 120,000 people displaced within Yemen.

Corporate and policy

• Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Google 403 million euros, or $463 million, over its handling of location data.
• Paramount Skydance reached a settlement with California and other states over its proposed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.
• Around 130 heads of state and government are expected to speak at the UN General Assembly starting Tuesday.

Management chatter

Feature

Tata Sons: one vote, two readings and a regulator's letter

The dispute around Tata Sons has three connected parts: the 17 September vote to reappoint N. Chandrasekaran, Tata Trusts' interpretation of its special voting rights, and the RBI's direction that Tata Sons comply with the listing requirements for upper-layer NBFCs. The Shapoorji Pallonji Group's request for liquidity adds a fourth commercial issue.

The vote on 17 September

The Tata Sons board voted 4-1 on 17 September to reappoint N. Chandrasekaran as executive chairman for another five-year term. Chandrasekaran abstained. Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata was the only director to vote against the resolution, while the Trusts' other nominee director, TVS Motor chairman emeritus Venu Srinivasan, voted in favour.

Chandrasekaran's second term runs until February 2027. In August, he had told the board that he would not offer himself for a third term after the issue had remained unresolved for around six months. He later agreed to continue when the board asked him to reconsider. After the 17 September meeting, Tata Trusts called the resolution illegal and advised Tata Sons to begin forming a selection committee for a successor.

Why the Trusts say the resolution failed

Tata Trusts hold around 66% of Tata Sons. Under Article 104B of the Articles of Association, the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust can jointly nominate one-third of the directors as long as their combined shareholding remains at or above 40%. Article 121 gives these nominees affirmative voting rights on board decisions.

On 20 September, the Trusts said the resolution “was not validly passed and has no legal effect” and was void ab initio. Their argument is that with two nominee directors, a majority requires both nominees to agree. “Majority amongst two is two and not one,” the statement said. The Trusts also rejected the view that the split created a deadlock that could be resolved by the chairman's casting vote, arguing that a casting vote applies only when the full board is tied.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior lead counsel for Tata Trusts, gave the same interpretation in an interview carried on 22 September. He pointed to Article 118 as requiring the affirmative assent of a majority of Trust nominees. “It does not require rocket science to realize that a majority within two is, in fact, two,” he said, adding that the central issue was that “the rights of shareholders and owners cannot be nullified.”

Tata Sons has continued on the basis that the board validly approved the reappointment.

The Mistry precedent

The Trusts also referred to the litigation that followed Cyrus Mistry's removal as Tata Sons chairman in 2016. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal had held Articles 104B and 121 to be oppressive. Tata Sons defended the provisions as legitimate protections for its majority shareholder, and the Supreme Court later set aside the NCLAT finding. “The Company cannot now disown the protection it went to the Supreme Court to preserve,” the Trusts said. Singhvi, who fought the 2016 case, now represents the Trusts.

The RBI letter and the listing question

The regulatory issue began in September 2022, when the RBI classified Tata Sons as an upper-layer NBFC. This category carries a requirement to list within three years. In March 2024, after prepaying ₹21,813 crore of debt, Tata Sons applied to surrender its registration as a core investment company. If accepted, that route would have taken Tata Sons outside the listing requirement.

The September 2025 listing deadline passed without a listing or a decision on the application. In August 2026, the RBI kept Tata Sons on its list of 17 upper-layer NBFCs and said the inclusion was without prejudice to the pending application. In a letter dated 11 September 2026, the RBI said the surrender request “cannot be acceded to” and asked Tata Sons to comply fully with upper-layer rules, including listing.

Tata Trusts oppose a listing. In their 20 September statement, they said Tata Sons had already voluntarily adopted standards used by public companies, including independent directors, audit and nomination committees, related-party transaction rules and an insider-trading code.

The Shapoorji Pallonji exit

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group is Tata Sons' second-largest shareholder with an estimated 18.37% stake. It supports a listing and has proposed monetising part of its holding. At the 17 September board meeting, Noel Tata presented a plan to provide the SP Group with at least ₹25,000 crore of liquidity. Under the structure, SP entities SICPL and CIPL would sell enough Tata Sons shares to raise that amount at a minimum valuation determined under Rule 11UA of the Income Tax Rules. The transaction would use a selective capital reduction at the NCLT and take place in two tranches over 18 months.

Timeline

Mint, 22 September 2026. This is not investment advice.

Closing note

Market data: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 21 September 2026 close. Macro, corporate and feature: Mint, Mumbai print edition, 22 September 2026. This is a news aggregation brief. Not investment advice.