Newsletter
Markets rally, Food delivery platform Swish bags funding, and Swiggy hikes platform fee.
🗓️ Morning, folks! ☀️
Markets staged a strong comeback, ending the day with solid gains despite a choppy session. Almost every sector joined the party, with Auto, IT, metals, banks, and consumer stocks all jumping around 2%.
Nifty: up 1.78%
Sensex: up 1.89%
💡Spotlight: markets cheer possible US-Iran thaw 🎉
Markets got a relief rally after reports suggested Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, may be open to talks with the US. President Donald Trump also hinted at ‘major points of agreement’, easing fears around oil supply disruptions.
That was enough to spark a sharp move: L&T ended as the top Nifty gainer, up 6%. IndiGo rose more than 5%, whereas Asian Paints saw a 4% jump.
Consumer stocks like Voltas, Whirlpool, Dixon gained 2-4%. Fertiliser players like Coromandel, FACT climbed up to 5%.
Why it matters: when tensions cool in the Middle East, oil prices tend to soften. Lower crude means cheaper fuel, lower inflation, and better margins for companies, from airlines to paints to consumer goods.
Let’s hit it! 💪🏻
1 Big Thing: India’s biggest healthcare IPO in the works 🏥
Manipal Hospitals has filed draft papers for a ₹8,000 crore+ IPO, which could become India’s largest-ever healthcare listing.
Today, the company operates 38 hospitals (48 including recent additions) with over 10,700 beds, making it one of India’s largest private healthcare providers.
Breaking it down: the issue includes a ₹8,000 crore fresh issue along with an offer for sale of over 4.3 crore shares by major investors like Temasek, TPG, and Manipal Group. If market conditions hold, the company is aiming to hit Dalal Street by end of 2026.
Context: Manipal isn’t new to scaling aggressively. Over the past few years, it has expanded through multiple acquisitions including Columbia Asia (India), Vikram Hospitals, and AMRI Hospitals building one of the largest hospital networks in the country.
The recent Sahyadri acquisition (~₹6,000+ crore deal) further cements its footprint.
Zoom out: India’s hospital sector is heating up on Dalal Street.
Listed peers like Apollo Hospitals (~₹1 lakh crore market cap), Max Healthcare (~₹95,000 crore), and Fortis (~₹60,000 crore) have already seen strong investor interest. Manipal’s entry could be a landmark moment for healthcare investing in India.
2. SEPC joins global oil race 💪🏻
SEPC just made a big global move. The company is buying a 90% stake in an Abu Dhabi-based firm, Avenir International Engineers and Consultants.
The deets: the deal is worth around ₹1,530 crore. Market liked it, the stock jumped nearly 10%.
SEPC is essentially buying its way into the global oil and gas engineering space.
Zoom out: the Middle East sits on some of the cheapest oil and gas in the world. In 2024 alone, it accounted for about 30% of global oil production and 17% of natural gas.
What’s also interesting is that a huge chunk of this energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping routes. About 80% of the oil passing through it is headed to Asia. In simple terms, this region is where the action is, both in production and global supply.
So what SEPC is really doing is positioning itself right in the middle of this energy corridor, where the projects are bigger, the money is higher, and the global demand is only growing.
3. Swish raises $38M for 10-minute meals 🍔
10-minute food delivery platform Swish raised $38 million in fresh funding.
The deets: the round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with Accel and others joining in.
Note: the startup is now valued at $139 million, more than 2x in a year, taking total funding to $54 million.
Ultra-fast food delivery is a tough game. Big players like Swiggy, Zomato, and Zepto have already pulled back due to high costs and complex operations.
Swish runs a very different model from Swiggy and Zomato. Instead of acting like a marketplace connecting users to restaurants, it owns its kitchens, delivery, and supply chain, which gives it full control over speed and quality.
Zoom out: the company is betting that hyperlocal density + owned kitchens can crack the unit economics. If it works, this could be a new playbook for quick food delivery.
4. A few states dominate India’s wealth map 💰
India’s ₹1 crore+ income earners are heavily concentrated in a few states, with Maharashtra leading by a huge margin at over 1.24 lakh filers.
States like Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat also stand out, showing how wealth is clustered around major economic hubs.
The pattern is clear: big cities = big incomes.
Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Chennai continue to attract high-paying jobs, businesses, and investments. Meanwhile, large parts of eastern and northeastern India have very low high-income populations, highlighting a sharp regional income gap.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
What went up ⬆️
🚂 Shares of IRFC jumped nearly 4% after it signed a ₹12,842 crore loan deal with Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan to refinance debt, helping lower costs, improve repayments, and support future growth.
🚧 Kalpataru Projects went up 3% after winning ₹4,439 crore worth of power transmission and distribution orders.
🚗 Maruti Suzuki shares gained after it approved Rs 10,189 crore investment to add 2.5 lakh annual capacity at Gujarat plant to meet demand, exports.
What went down ⬇️
☄️ Coal India shares fell nearly 3% after plans to partially sell and list two subsidiaries, SECL and MCL, raised concerns among investors.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🔻 Growth cut: Goldman Sachs cut India’s FY26 growth forecast to 5.9%, citing rising oil prices, inflation risks, and ongoing Middle East tensions impacting outlook.
⬇️ War impact: India’s private sector growth slowed to a three-year low in March as Iran war disruptions hit demand, costs rose; PMI fell to 56.5.
🍔 Fee hike: Swiggy raised its platform fee by 17% to ₹17.5, following Zomato’s recent hike, as both players push to improve margins.
🤖 New launch: Wipro launched a new innovation lab in Seoul focused on AI, automotive tech, and smart manufacturing, expanding its global network to nine labs.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.
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