Newsletter
Tariff tensions return, India's AI infrastructure grows, and education gets a new face.
🗓️ Morning, folks and Happy Mondayyyyy! ☀️
Markets have a busy week ahead.
What to watch: all eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision.
Meanwhile, back home, markets will also track India’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, which shows how factories, mines and utilities are performing.
The IPO market is gearing up for another blockbuster month.
More than a dozen companies across sectors are expected to hit the primary market in the coming weeks, looking to raise over ₹25,000 crore through a mix of fresh issues and offer-for-sale.
💡 Spotlight: Trump imposes new 10% tariff on India 🤝
US President Donald Trump announced a new tariff policy that affects imports from 60 trading partners. It replaces the temporary tariff system that had been in place for the past five months.
What’s going on: India will now face a 10% tariff on exports to the US.
This is lower than the 12.5% tariff the US had initially proposed as part of an investigation into whether countries were doing enough to stop goods made using forced labour from entering global supply chains.
Meanwhile, the Indian government and pharmaceutical companies are also pushing the US to ease proposed tariffs on generic medicines.
They are using ongoing trade talks to seek relief, as the US remains India's biggest market for pharmaceutical exports.
Let’s hit it! 💪🏻
1 Big Thing: India’s ₹14,257 crore AI engine 🤝
HCLTech is making one of India’s biggest AI infrastructure bets yet, with plans to invest ₹14,257 crore to build its first AI Data Center in Odisha.
The deets: the company will set up the facility at the upcoming Odisha Sovereign AI Park in partnership with Sarvam AI and the Government of Odisha.
But this isn’t just another data centre.
Why it matters: HCLTech wants to build what is known as sovereign AI.
In simple words, it means developing AI infrastructure, computing power, and AI models within India instead of depending on foreign companies.
The how: the data centre will combine HCLTech’s full-stack AI capabilities with Sarvam AI’s foundation models to build sector-specific AI solutions for both private companies and government departments.
The partnership also plans to roll out multilingual AI services, helping deliver AI-powered applications to people across India in their native languages.
Zoom out: according to the Stanford AI Index 2026, India’s AI talent concentration has jumped 120% since 2019, making it the second-fastest growing globally, just behind the UAE.
The ranking measures how quickly the share of AI professionals on LinkedIn has grown in each country over the past six years.
2. AI party ain’t stopping 🎉
Coforge shares rose nearly 3% on Friday after the IT firm announced a five-year, $230+ million deal with a major European client.
What’s the deal: Coforge will use AI-powered automation, low-code/no-code platforms and AI-driven software development to overhaul the client’s business operations. The aim is to improve decision-making, reduce manual work and deliver services faster.
Big theme: investors are increasingly betting on IT firms with strong AI, cloud and digital engineering capabilities.
Between 2021 and 2025, Persistent Systems’ market capitalisation grew from ₹375 billion to ₹936 billion, while Coforge’s rose from ₹359 billion to ₹557 billion.
Nasscom estimates AI-related revenues reached $10-12 billion in FY26, highlighting how AI is becoming a major growth driver for India’s IT sector.
3. Nvidia’s $1.5B bet 💰
Amkor Technology has signed a multi-year, $1.5 billion deal with Nvidia to expand its advanced chip packaging and testing capacity in the US.
As part of the agreement, Nvidia will make an upfront investment to help Amkor expand its key services in Arizona.
Why it matters: Amkor doesn’t manufacture chips. Instead, it packages and tests them before they go into AI servers, data centres, self-driving cars, and even smartphones.
Think of it like this, if a chip is a team at work, advanced packaging is the office layout.
The closer everyone sits, the faster they can share information and get work done.
Similarly, advanced packaging places components like GPUs, CPUs, and memory chips much closer together, allowing data to move faster while using less electricity.
That’s becoming critical because today’s AI models process enormous amounts of data. Simply moving information between different chips consumes huge amounts of power.
By shortening those distances, advanced packaging makes AI systems faster, more efficient, and less energy-hungry.
4. India's spacetech startups are taking off 🚀
India’s private space race is gaining serious momentum. Skyroot Aerospace leads the pack with $150 million in funding, followed by Pixxel ($96 million) and Agnikul ($75.5 million).
As satellite launches, Earth observation and defence technologies attract more investor interest, Indian spacetech startups are raising record capital and positioning themselves as global players.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
What went up ⬆️
💊 Laurus Labs jumped 2% after revenue surged 29% to ₹2,026 crore in Q1, as the company delivered strong growth across key metrics.
📈 Thyrocare, Mphasis & Cyient gained up to 4% on Q1 results.
⚡Apar Industries shares rose more than 3% after posting a healthy set of Q1 numbers.
What went down ⬇️
🔻Motilal Oswal shares tumbled nearly 7% after reporting a ₹1,274 crore June-quarter profit, largely driven by ₹1,105 crore one-time investment gains.
📉 Fractal Analytics, Spandana and Ramco Systems slipped up to 10% on weak Q1 earnings.
🍔 Eternal, Swiggy shares tumbled up to 4% over Flipkart’s plans to enter the food delivery business.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🫡 Leadership change: Pralhad Joshi replaced Dharmendra Pradhan as Education Minister after his resignation over exam paper leak protests.
💰Earnings snapshot: Zen Technologies’ June-quarter profit fell 28% to ₹34.4 crore as the defence electronics company reported weaker year-on-year earnings.
🧪 Chemical scheme: the Cabinet has approved a ₹3,030 crore scheme to boost the chemicals sector, while also clearing key policy decisions at its latest meeting.
✈️ Airline denial: Adani Group denied reports of plans to launch an airline, saying it is not evaluating any proposal to enter the aviation business.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the Monday blues get to you.
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