Newsletter
India’s rail push, Adani bets big on airports, and Hello to Apple’s first-ever foldable iPhone.
🗓️ Morning, folks! ☀️
AI has found a new side quest: solving century-old maths problems.
OpenAI said it had solved the 90-year-old Navier-Stokes problem, one of seven Millennium Prize Problems, considered among mathematics’ biggest unsolved puzzles.
It said the problem was tackled using an internal AI system more powerful than its latest GPT-6 Astra model. But the announcement did not really go well. 👀
NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster said OpenAI accelerated its work after learning that he and an Anthropic researcher were preparing to announce their own breakthrough.
There was another concern: the pair’s work in progress had been stored in OpenAI’s Codex, raising questions about whether OpenAI could have accessed it.
Buckmaster, however, stopped short of making an accusation, saying he did not know whether their data had been used.
OpenAI researcher Sébastien Bubeck denied using or accessing the pair’s work.
While we’re on AI, an AI researcher has resigned from Anthropic and called on other staffers to ‘rethink their work.’
In a post on X, he said, and we quote: ‘I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.’
In a longer thread, Coxon said teams building AI ‘earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.’
In response, Evan Hubinger, a current Anthropic employee, said he and others at the company also worry about such a scenario. ‘I personally think it is >10% within the next decade,’ he wrote on X.
Moving on, another day of losses for Dalal Street. The Nifty and Sensex slipped up to 1% each.
Rising oil prices continued to weigh on the markets, with Brent crude crossing the $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since July.
IT stocks were another major drag. Five of the top six Nifty losers came from the sector, with Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) among the biggest losers.
💡 Spotlight: A quick tech update 🙇🏼♀️
Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, featuring the biggest-ever battery in an iPhone, an upgraded camera system and colour-matched aluminium side rails.
The Pro models come in Burgundy, Silver and Black. In India, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at ₹1,64,900, while the Pro Max starts at ₹1,79,900. Apple has also launched the iPhone Duo, its first-ever foldable iPhone.
Let’s hit it! 💪🏻
1 Big Thing: 5 rail projects, one goal 💪
India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved five railway multitracking projects worth around ₹10,021 crore across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.
Before we move on, here are the five projects:
- Arakkonam-Renigunta third and fourth lines: 77 km
- Whitefield-Bangarapet third and fourth lines: 47 km
- Hosur-Omalur doubling: 147 km
- Salem-Karur-Dindigul doubling: 159 km
- Secunderabad (Ghatkesar)-Kazipet multitracking: 110 km
What’s happening: together, the projects will add around 540 km to the railway network and increase capacity on some of the country’s key routes, particularly those used to transport coal, cement, iron and steel.
The government estimates that the projects could support around 27 million tonnes of additional freight traffic annually, while also helping reduce logistics costs.
The other benefit: the additional rail capacity is expected to cut oil consumption by around 8 crore litres and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 42 crore kg.
Scheduled for completion by 2029-30, the projects will cover 17 districts and improve rail connectivity to around 2,121 villages.
Zoom out: this is part of India’s bigger push to move more goods by rail. The government wants to increase railways’ share of freight transport from around 35-36% to 45% by 2030, which could help take freight off roads and reduce transport emissions.
2. Adani bets big on the airport biz ✈️
Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL), a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, has sealed a deal to raise ₹9,825 crore in primary equity capital from a group of investors, including Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek and BlackRock-managed funds.
Stock action: shares of Adani Enterprises jumped 4% intraday on the back of this news.
The deets: once the transaction is complete, the investors will collectively hold approximately 5.54% in AAHL.
The deal values the company at $18 billion, or around ₹1.75 lakh crore, making it one of India’s largest institutional investments in airport infrastructure.
It plans to nearly double its airport capacity to around 200 million passengers. The company also wants to grow businesses beyond flying, including ground handling and other passenger-facing services.
Zoom out: AAHL also holds a 73% stake in Mumbai International Airport, which in turn owns 74% of Navi Mumbai International Airport.
With eight airports in its management and development portfolio, AAHL accounts for around 25% of passenger traffic and 33% of the country’s air cargo traffic.
3. Too much money in the bank 🫢
India asked NRIs for $80 billion to save the rupee. They sent $136 billion. That’s now the problem.
The RBI tried this before. In September 2013, after the rupee fell nearly 30% in five months, it opened almost the same window for NRI deposits. That time it raised $34 billion.
This time it raised four times more. Why? The RBI paid the banks’ costs and let them lend against every dollar that came in. The deal was simply too good to refuse.
4. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
What went up ⬆️
😎 Graphite India surged 15% after US-based graphite electrode maker GrafTech raised electrode prices by at least 30% following capacity cuts.
😮💨 Adani Ports gained 3% after it won a 30-year contract to operate two Paradip Port berths, adding 18 MMT of dry bulk handling capacity.
🔥 Novartis India hit a 20% upper circuit, extending gains to eight sessions and surging 47% since August 31, 2026.
⚡Finolex Cables climbed 4% to a 52-week high after Jefferies maintained its buy rating with a ₹1,410 target.
🎉 Power Mech Projects jumped after winning a ₹970 crore Vedanta Power contract to operate and maintain its Chhattisgarh thermal power plant.
What went down ⬇️
😐 Coforge fell 5%, its biggest single-day drop since April 2025, after Chairman and independent director OP Bhatt resigned early.
🔻HDFC Life shares fell nearly 4%, while HDFC Bank dropped 2%, remaining under pressure and closing at a 52-week low.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
👍🏻 Listing update: NSE filed its updated IPO papers, with the issue size likely shrinking to ₹23,000 crore from ₹30,000 crore as shareholders cut sales.
🏦 Going shopping: ICICI Prudential AMC received RBI approval to acquire up to 9.95% each in CSB Bank, DCB Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
🛡️ Cyber alliance: Wipro and CrowdStrike launched a cybersecurity command centre to help companies detect and respond faster to AI-driven cyber threats.
💊 Ibuprofen expansion: IOL Chemicals will invest ₹350 crore to add 6,000 tonnes of annual ibuprofen capacity and expand into contract manufacturing and specialty chemicals.
🍔 Food delivery: Flipkart has started testing Eat In, its food delivery service, among employees in Bengaluru ahead of a wider consumer launch.
🤝 India partnership: Volkswagen is exploring a joint-control partnership with JSW to expand its India portfolio, boost local sourcing and add production capacity.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.
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Disclaimer: This newsletter is for informational and research purposes only. Nothing here should be considered financial, investment, legal, or professional advice.
