Private Space Takes Over Orbit 🚀

Earnings heat up, Prop-tech soars, and Hero heads to Germany.

🗓️ Morning, folks and Happy Fridayyyyy! ☀️

A largely flat Thursday on Dalal Street.

Markets opened higher, supported by gains in IT stocks and a few heavyweight names. However, selling pressure picked up in the second half, erasing most of the day’s gains.

The Sensex managed to end just 1 point higher, while the Nifty slipped 6 points to close at 24,073.

Among the sectors, IT stocks provided support to the benchmark indices, while financial stocks dragged the Nifty lower.

💡 Spotlight: India’s first private rocket set for orbital launch 🚀

On July 18 at 11:30 am, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace will attempt to launch Vikram-1, the country’s first privately built orbital rocket, as part of Mission Aagaman.

Why is this a big deal: while ISRO has launched rockets for decades, Vikram-1 will be the first orbital-class rocket designed, built and launched by an Indian private company from Indian soil.

So, what is Vikram-1?

The rocket is designed to carry small satellites weighing up to 350 kg into low-Earth orbit for commercial customers. On its maiden flight, it will attempt to place its payload into a 450-km orbit.

This isn’t Skyroot’s first milestone. Back in 2022, the company made history with Vikram-S, India’s first privately developed rocket to reach space.

Let’s hit it! 💪🏻

1 Big thing: Wipro’s Q1 revenue grew, but profit barely moved 💻

Wipro’s shares will be in focus today as the company reported a mixed June quarter. Revenue grew at a healthy pace, but profit was almost flat and its core IT business remained under pressure.

By the numbers:

Revenue: ₹24,479 crore, up 10.6% YoY
Net profit: ₹3,356 crore, up just 0.6% YoY
IT services revenue: $2.61 billion, down 1.4% QoQ
Constant currency growth: down 1.2% QoQ, up 0.9% YoY

Constant currency measures a company’s revenue growth after removing the impact of exchange rate changes, showing its actual business performance.

Operating margin: at 16%, down from 17.3% last quarter

In simple words, more money came into the business, but a much larger share of it was also spent.

Why did profit barely grow: the company faced higher employee costs after salary hikes, while it also spent money to begin work on recently won large contracts. The company is also investing heavily in AI tools, employee training and new capabilities.

Big picture: there was one important positive.

Wipro signed $1.63 billion worth of large deals, up nearly 13% from the previous quarter. These are contracts worth at least $30 million each.

What’s next: the company expects its IT services revenue in the September quarter to range between a 1.5% decline and 0.5% growth in constant currency.

While we are on earnings 💸,

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) climbed 4% after it reported a stronger-than-expected June quarter and returned to profit after a loss a year ago.

By the numbers:

Net profit: ₹382 crore, compared with a loss of ₹454 crore a year ago
Revenue: up 40.3% YoY to ₹7,698 crore
EBITDA: improved to ₹504 crore from an EBITDA loss of ₹537 crore last year
EBITDA margin: 6.5%

What drove the surge: power remained BHEL's biggest growth driver. Revenue from its power segment jumped 52% YoY, accounting for nearly 77% of the company’s total revenue.

Keeping the earnings coming 💸,

Jio Financial Services delivered a blockbuster June quarter, with profit more than doubling as its lending, payments and wealth management businesses continued to scale rapidly.

By the numbers:

Net profit: ₹830 crore, up 156% YoY
Revenue: ₹2,004 crore, up 227% YoY
Total income: ₹1,496 crore, up 141% YoY
Interest income: ₹962 crore, up 165% YoY

What’s driving the growth: the biggest boost came from its lending business. As more people borrowed through Jio Financial, the company’s loan book expanded sharply.

Its Assets Under Management (AUM), which is simply the total value of loans the company has given out, jumped 2.6 times. More loans meant more interest income, which rose 165% during the quarter.

2. Hero accelerates into Germany 🇩🇪

Hero MotoCorp has entered Germany, through a distribution partnership with Austria-based KSR Group.

KSR Group imports and distributes motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, and other mobility vehicles across Europe, giving Hero access to an established dealer network.

The launch lineup: Hero is launching two adventure motorcycles in Germany: the XPulse 200 4V (€2,990) and the XPulse 200 Pro (€3,290), both built to meet Europe’s latest Euro 5+ emission standards.

Why Germany matters: its entry into Europe’s largest economy strengthens its presence in the region after expanding into Italy, Spain, France, and the UK.

Bigger landscape: Hero is entering Europe’s largest two-wheeler market at an interesting time.

After sales plunged 27.8% in 2025 due to weak consumer demand and high inflation, Germany’s motorcycle market is showing signs of recovery.

In the first five months of 2026, overall two-wheeler sales have rebounded 23.5%, while electric two-wheeler sales have surged 49.2%.

Over the longer term, Germany’s motorcycle market is also expected to grow from $7.9 billion in 2024 to $11.4 billion by 2032.

3. Unicorn status check ✅

AI startup Emergent raised $130 million in a fresh funding round led by private equity firm Creaegis along with other prominent investors, pushing its valuation past the $1 billion mark.

That makes it one of the few Indian AI startups to join the unicorn club.

So, what does Emergent actually do?

Instead of hiring a large engineering team, businesses can use Emergent’s platform to build applications with the help of AI.

It’s aimed primarily at small and medium-sized businesses that want to create software quickly without writing endless lines of code.

By the numbers: the company has crossed an annual revenue run rate of $120 million, with revenue growing 70% in just the last four months. It also claims to have over 200,000 paying customers.

Around one-third of its revenue comes from North America, another third from Europe, while India contributes only 8-9%.

4. Housing.com gets a new owner 🏠

If you’ve ever searched for a home online, chances are you’ve come across Housing.com.

Now, Mumbai-based Aurum PropTech, a real estate technology company, is buying it in a ₹458 crore deal to build a one-stop platform for everything related to real estate.

What’s the deal: Aurum PropTech will acquire Housing.com from Australia’s REA Group in an all-equity deal, meaning no cash is being paid. Instead, REA Group will receive shares in the company.

The company plans to combine Housing.com’s massive consumer reach with its own technology platform.

Together, it wants to build an AI-powered system that connects homebuyers, developers, brokers, rental platforms and financial services, making the entire property-buying journey much smoother.

While we are on acquisitions 🤝,

ITC Hotels will acquire Ahmedabad-based GHK Hospitality for an enterprise value of ₹155 crore.

The deets: GHK owns the 130-room Welcomhotel Ahmedabad, which is already being operated by ITC Hotels. By acquiring the property, ITC Hotels will now own the hotel instead of just managing it.

The company wants to strengthen its presence in Ahmedabad, a city that sees steady demand from business travellers, events and tourism throughout the year.

On the earnings front, ITC Hotels reported a net profit of ₹180.2 crore, rising 35.5% YoY. Revenue grew 14.8% to ₹936 crore.

Despite strong earnings, the stock fell over 5%.

2026 has been a reminder that global stock markets don’t always move together.

While South Korea surged on the AI and semiconductor boom, Japan gained on corporate reforms and the US rode the strength of Big Tech.

Meanwhile, China struggled with slower growth, and India paused after a strong rally as investors looked for cheaper opportunities.

It all comes down to earnings, innovation, valuations and where global capital flows.

Full Story Here

6. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀

What went up ⬆️

🛢️Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) zoomed more than 10% after Q1 profit jumped multi-fold on a quarterly basis and revenue nearly doubled.

☀️ Emmvee Photovoltaic jumped 8% after Q1 profit more than doubled, backed by a strong order book.

📱 Dixon Tech surged more than 6% after the government approved a ₹1.9 lakh crore mobile phone manufacturing scheme.

⚡ABB India gained more than 6% after its Swiss parent, ABB, reported strong second-quarter results.

What went down ⬇️

🛡️ ICICI Lombard tumbled 11% as brokerages flagged a significant decline in Q1 profit.

🌞 Sterling & Wilson slipped 8% after reporting a dip in revenue and flat margins.

💰 HDFC AMC fell nearly 5% after its Q1 results disappointed investors.

What else are we snackin’ 🍿

💻 Q1 results: Tech Mahindra reported a 32% rise in Q1 profit, with new deal wins crossing $1 billion and revenue growing 17.7% year-on-year.

⚡ Power supply: Adani Power signed a 25-year power supply agreement with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) to supply 1,600 MW of electricity from a new ultra-supercritical thermal power plant.

🌍 EU approval: India Pesticides received Technical Equivalence (TEQ) approval in the European Union for one of its fungicides, paving the way for broader access to the European market.

And that’s a wrap. Pour yourself an extra one this weekend. 🥂