Can India find more oil? ⛽️

Cigarette tax hike hurts ITC, Defence chemical in making, and Zepto's IPO plans.

🗓️ Morning, folks and Happy Mondayyyy! ☀️

The 2026 Commonwealth Games concluded on Sunday with India securing fourth place in the medal standings with 13 gold, 17 silver and 9 bronze medals. Australia topped the table, followed by England and Canada.

The closing ceremony also marked the handover of the flag and baton to India, with Ahmedabad now set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

Let’s gets to the markets now. Dalal Street staged a strong recovery last week as easing crude oil prices, strong Q1FY27 earnings and fresh FII buying boosted investor mood.

What to watch this week: the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet from August 3-5, with the policy decision due on August 5.

The earnings season continues, with Bharti Airtel, IREDA, Nykaa, ONGC, LIC, SBI and Delhivery set to report their Q1FY27 results.

Global watch: US President Donald Trump said he has cancelled planned strikes on Iran for now, claiming a deal is close and could lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

💡 Spotlight: Auto sales shift into top gear 🚗

Auto stocks will be in focus today after manufacturers reported July sales numbers over the weekend.

Maruti Suzuki, the company posted its highest-ever monthly passenger vehicle sales, selling 1.96 lakh cars, while domestic sales crossed the 2 lakh mark for the first time. Small car sales jumped 63%, while SUVs grew 48%.

Tata Motors reported its highest-ever monthly EV wholesales, crossing 15,000 units for the first time.
JSW MG Motor recorded its best-ever monthly sales.
Kia India and Suzuki Motorcycle delivered their highest-ever July performance.
Royal Enfield crossed the 1 lakh monthly sales milestone for the first time.

Mahindra, Hyundai, Hero MotoCorp and Honda also reported healthy double-digit or steady growth.

India’s passenger vehicle wholesales rose 34% YoY to 4.69 lakh units in July, while two-wheeler demand remained strong.

Meanwhile, registrations for electric two-wheeler sales in July surged 77% YoY to nearly 1.92 lakh units.

TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto more than doubled their EV sales, while Ather and Hero MotoCorp also posted robust growth. Ola Electric was the only major player to see sales decline.

In an interesting insight,

India is now home to the world’s fourth-largest unicorn ecosystem, with 61 unicorns, according to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026. That list has a new entrant.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s electric three-wheeler business, Mahindra Last Mile Mobility (MLMML), has joined the club after raising ₹322 crore in a funding round led by investment firm Lightrock. The investment values the company at ₹10,822 crore.

Let’s hit it! 💪🏻

1 Big Thing: ITC reports lower profit after cigarette tax hike 📊

ITC Q1 profit took a sharp hit after the government raised taxes on cigarettes. Despite record revenue and healthy FMCG growth, the higher tax burden overshadowed an otherwise steady quarter.

The numbers 📊:

Net profit: ₹3,579 crore, down 27% YoY
Revenue: ₹26,943 crore, up 28% YoY
EBITDA: ₹4,514 crore, down 27.9% YoY
Margin: 26.7% vs 31.7% last year

More than tax: ITC absorbed much of the tax impact while rolling out over 30 product interventions to protect market share under the new tax regime.

However, higher costs for edible oil, fuel, soap noodles and packaging materials, driven partly by the ongoing Middle East conflict, also weighed on margins.

FMCG kept the balance: revenue from the FMCG business grew 12%, while excluding staples, growth accelerated to 16%.

Dairy, snacks, instant noodles and frozen foods all grew by more than 20%, while personal care products delivered mid-teen growth.

Notebook sales also recovered, while beverages got a boost from the unusually hot summer.

ITC's newer brands, including Yogabar, 24 Mantra Organic, Prasuma, Meatigo and Mother Sparsh, now generate annual recurring revenue of around ₹1,500 crore. Quick commerce, e-commerce and modern trade also continued to drive growth.

2. India wants to find more oil ⛽️

India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and spends nearly $144 billion (around ₹13 lakh crore) every year importing it.

Recent geopolitical tensions have also shown why reducing that dependence is crucial for India’s energy security.

The government approved the ₹84,000 crore Samudra Manthan scheme, one of the country’s biggest pushes towards deep-sea oil and gas exploration.

The plan: over the next five years, the government plans to map offshore reserves, drill 60 deepwater wells with financial support, build offshore infrastructure and boost domestic manufacturing for the sector.

Financial support will be available to ONGC, Oil India and private explorers.

If successful, India’s oil-equivalent production could rise from around 62 million tonnes to nearly 80 million tonnes annually.

The challenges: finding oil is only half the battle. Offshore exploration is among the riskiest and most expensive businesses, with companies spending years surveying potential reserves before drilling wells that can cost hundreds of crores. Even then, many wells turn out to be dry or commercially unviable.

For an oil field to be viable, the right geology must come together, and India has also struggled to attract private investment because of policy uncertainty and limited success in past exploration rounds.

Today, nearly 89% of India’s crude oil demand is still met through imports, highlighting how much is at stake if new discoveries succeed.

Full Story Here

3. Navin Fluorine joins DRDO to make a critical defence chemical 🇮🇳

Navin Fluorine International gained nearly 2% on Friday after it announced a partnership with DRDO to develop indigenous manufacturing technology for sodium borohydride. The chemical is used in several defence applications.

The deets: Sodium borohydride is also used in hydrogen generation systems that can power fuel cells for military equipment and unmanned platforms.

India currently depends on imports for a significant portion of its requirement of high-purity sodium borohydride and the technology to manufacture it at scale is available with only a handful of companies globally.

That especially creates a vulnerability during geopolitical tensions.

The bigger picture: last week, the Kerala Cabinet approved another 90 acres of land for DRDO, taking the total allocation for the new BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram facility to 180 acres.

Everyone thinks the best job opportunities are limited to metro cities.

But cities like Visakhapatnam, Surat, Ludhiana, Prayagraj and Raipur are emerging as fast-growing employment hubs, driven by infrastructure projects, manufacturing, data centres, GCCs and startup activity.

As investments spread beyond traditional business centres, these cities are creating new opportunities and reshaping India’s employment landscape.

Full Story Here

5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀

What went up ⬆️

💳 Bajaj Finance jumped more than 8% after brokerages raised target prices following strong Q1 results and upbeat management commentary.

🚗 Hyundai Motor rose 8% after the management issued healthy FY27 guidance.

🛰️ Astra Microwave rallied more than 7% after bagging a ₹2,205 crore order win from HAL.

🚰 EMS bagged an order worth ₹158 crore from Delhi Jal Board, stock went up more than 7%.

📊 M&M, Voltamp Transformers and Netweb Technologies climbed up to 8% after reporting strong Q1 results.

🏗️ Tata Steel rose nearly 2% as firm’s Q1 results beat estimates on improved steel prices.

What went down ⬇️

💻 Nucleus Software dropped more than 7% after the banking software firm disclosed a lacklustre performance in its June-quarter earnings.

📉 Data Patterns fell more than 4% after Q1 profit declined 14% YoY to ₹22 crore.

What else are we snackin’ 🍿

🧪 Q1 growth: Aether Industries reported a 33% rise in Q1 profit and partnered with Dow to manufacture silicone technology products in India.

🛢️ Oman deal: L&T signed a six-year EPC framework agreement with Petroleum Development Oman to execute upcoming oil and gas projects.

⚡Demand spike: India’s power consumption rose 10.9% to 170.7 billion units in July, driven by higher air-conditioner usage during humid weather.

💸 Tax feast: GST collections jumped 15.4% YoY to ₹2.11 lakh crore in July, the fastest growth in 14 months and only the second ₹2 lakh crore-plus month this fiscal.

🚫 Market ban: SEBI barred Zee founders Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka from the securities market for one year and imposed a ₹1.48 crore penalty over an unauthorised share pledge.

💪🏻 Capital raise: despite pausing its IPO plans, Zepto closed a pre-IPO private equity placement, strengthened its balance sheet with ₹5,681 crore in cash and remained debt-free.

That’s a wrap! Don’t let Monday blues get to you.