Newsletter
Vikram-1 lifts off, ICICI Bank shines, and HCLTech's big-money deal.
🗓️ Morning, folks and Happy Mondayyy! ☀️
Before we get into the weekend market action, here’s a look at football’s biggest headline ⚽️
After a nail-biting final, Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win their second FIFA World Cup title.
A goal in the 106th minute sealed the victory and crowned Spain world champions once again.
Now before we begin, a huge congratulations to Skyroot Aerospace and its entire team.
On Saturday, Vikram-1 successfully lifted off from Sriharikota, making India only the third country, after the US and China, to achieve the feat with a privately developed launch vehicle.
Now, onto the markets.
It’s another busy week ahead, with earnings from Infosys, Paytm, UltraTech Cement, Adani Energy Solutions, Bajaj Auto, HPCL and Nestlé India in focus.
Investors will also keep an eye on the US-Iran conflict, crude oil prices, the progress of the southwest monsoon, and foreign investor activity, all of which could shape market sentiment this week.
💡 Spotlight: India Inc started FY27 on a strong note 📈
Context: India Inc is a collective term for India’s corporate sector, the country’s listed and unlisted businesses across different industries.
The deets: so far, 115 non-BFSI and non-oil & gas companies have reported their June quarter results.
Together, they posted 15.6% year-on-year revenue growth, the fastest in 14 quarters, marking the second straight quarter of double-digit growth. Net profit also rose 10.9%, although the pace slowed compared to the previous quarter.
Let’s hit it! 💪🏻
1 Big thing: A banger Q1 show for Reliance ⭐
Reliance Industries delivered a stronger-than-expected June quarter, with Jio, Retail and its oil business all contributing to growth.
A first for Reliance: the conglomerate reported a quarterly revenue of over ₹3 lakh crore for the first time.
By the numbers:
- Revenue: ₹3.09 lakh crore, up 26.6% (YoY)
- Consolidated net profit: at ₹20,946 cr vs 16,971 cr (QoQ) and ₹26,994 cr (YoY)
- EBITDA margin: at 15.4% vs 17.6% (YoY)
While last year’s profit included a one-time gain from the sale of its Asian Paints stake, Reliance still reported its highest-ever recurring quarterly net profit and record operating profit, showing that its core businesses are firing on all cylinders.
Jio Platforms remained Reliance’s biggest growth engine.
Revenue from its digital business jumped 20% YoY, helped not just by mobile services but also by faster growth in cloud computing, enterprise services, IoT and digital content.
Across mobile, broadband and enterprise businesses, Jio delivered 15% growth in earnings driven by subscriber additions and margin expansion.
The company also moved a step closer to its much-awaited IPO by filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI.
Reliance Retail also had a strong quarter. Revenue rose 7.4% to ₹90,408 crore. Excluding the demerger of Reliance Consumer Products, growth stood at an even stronger 11.6%.
The company continued its aggressive expansion by adding 252 new stores, taking its total network to 20,169 outlets. Customer traffic remained robust too.
Reliance’s Oil-to-Chemicals (O2C) business, often seen as the company’s traditional cash cow, also bounced back.
EBITDA jumped 17.2% to a four-year high of ₹17,010 crore, helped by stronger refining margins and better demand for fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas business remained steady. EBITDA came in at ₹4,973 crore, supported by higher production from the KG-D6 basin and increased coal-bed methane output.
JioHotstar had its biggest-ever quarter for engagement.
The platform averaged 530 million monthly active users, while IPL 2026 became the largest-ever T20 tournament across both digital and television platforms.
Stock action: Reliance shares rallied nearly 3% on Friday ahead of the earnings announcement, adding ₹45,334 crore to the company’s market capitalisation.
Since we're talking about earnings, let's quickly see how the top banks fared in Q1.
ICICI Bank
Net profit: up 16% YoY at ₹14,804.5 cr vs ₹12,768 crNII: up 12.7% YoY at ₹24,385 cr vs ₹21,635 crGross NPA: at 1.38% vs 1.40% (QoQ)Net NPA: at 0.35% vs 0.33% (QoQ)
HDFC Bank
Net profit: up 5% YoY at ₹19,060 cr vs ₹18,155 crNII: up 6.7% YoY at ₹33,535 cr vs ₹31,438 crGross NPA: at 1.17% vs 1.15% (QoQ)Net NPA: at 0.41% vs 0.38% (QoQ)
Both the banks will be in focus today.
Asset quality remained strong for ICICI Bank, margins stayed stable despite pressure across the sector, and management expects them to hold steady ahead.
For your understanding, bank results aren’t just about profit.
Investors also watch NII, which is the money a bank earns by lending after paying interest on deposits.
Gross and Net NPAs show how many loans have gone bad. Higher NII and lower NPAs usually mean a healthier bank.
2. HCLTech seals $10.5 million GCC deal 🏢
HCLTech is acquiring Guardian India Operations, the India-based Global Capability Centre (GCC) of US insurer Guardian Life Insurance, for $10.5 million (around ₹101 crore).
Along with the acquisition, the two companies have also signed a seven-year partnership, under which HCLTech will continue managing Guardian’s technology and operations.
Guardian Life Insurance sells life insurance, retirement plans, wealth management products and employee benefits to millions of Americans.
A Global Capability Centre (GCC) is an overseas office that multinational companies set up in countries like India to handle technology, operations, finance and other support work for their global business.
Why is Guardian selling: Guardian’s expertise lies in selling insurance, not running thousands of engineers, upgrading technology systems or managing large IT teams.
Instead of owning and operating its own GCC, Guardian has decided to hand those responsibilities over to a company whose core business is technology.
Why is HCLTech buying: normally, winning a large outsourcing contract takes years.
An IT company first has to win the client, hire employees, train them, understand the client’s systems and build delivery teams from scratch.
HCLTech is skipping most of those steps.
3. Did you know shareholders get perks? 🤔
Some stocks offer more than just dividends and capital gains.
Around the world, companies have long rewarded loyal shareholders with exclusive perks, from discounts and vouchers to free stays and early access to products.
The trend is slowly making its way to India too, as companies look to strengthen investor loyalty and deepen engagement with their shareholders.
Here’s a look at some of the most interesting shareholder perks.
4. Can hydrogen really power India’s trains? 💧
India has launched its first indigenous hydrogen-powered train, joining a handful of countries using clean technology.
Unlike diesel trains, it generates electricity onboard using hydrogen and emits only water vapour.
While this is a major milestone for India’s railway and clean energy ambitions, hydrogen remains expensive to produce, especially if it isn’t made using renewable energy, making large-scale adoption a long-term challenge.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
What went up ⬆️
💸 Integrated power cables and transmission products manufacturer Laser Power & Infra hit a 10% upper circuit after listing at a 23% premium.
🔼 Nilkamal surged nearly 10% after Abakkus Investment Managers bought 2.8 lakh shares, boosting investor sentiment.
📈 Jio Financial Services jumped 3% after reporting a 155% year-on-year jump in first-quarter consolidated net profit to ₹830 crore.
🛣️ PNC Infratech shares gained after winning two highway projects worth ₹3,483 crore from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
⚡️PTC Industries shares zoomed 2% after it secured an order from BrahMos Aerospace to manufacture and integrate the metallic airframe system.
What went down ⬇️
📉 Polycab India fell nearly 4% despite reporting its best-ever first quarter, with net profit jumping 33% YoY to ₹797 crore.
🔻 CEAT shares crashed 7% after first-quarter net profit plunged 96% year-on-year to ₹4 crore amid weak quarterly earnings.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
📱 Market slowdown: India’s smartphone shipments fell 10% year-on-year in Q2FY2026 as rising device prices hurt demand, with Samsung emerging as the only top-five brand to post growth.
🧬 TB vaccine: Serum Institute and the Gates Medical Research Institute partnered to manufacture a Phase 3 tuberculosis vaccine candidate, which could become the first new TB vaccine in over 100 years.
📚 Stake increase: PhysicsWallah invested ₹71.8 crore in Sarrthi IAS, raising its stake to 51% and making the UPSC coaching platform its subsidiary.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the Monday blues get to you.
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