Newsletter
IPO fever, NSE IPO gets SEBI nod, and TCS’ ₹70,000 crore AI bet.
🗓️ Morning, folks and Happy Mondayyyy! ☀️
Another day, another wacky Gen Z trend. This time, it’s revealing the generation’s increasingly weird relationship with investing, as Pokémon cards become one of the generation’s most favoured financial assets.
Stores are selling out, card grading has hit record levels, and the craze has even sparked robberies.
South Korea’s Bunjang marketplace saw Pokémon card transactions jump 211% in the first half of 2026, while the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold fetched nearly $16.5 million.
So, why the madness? Social media has turned opening card packs into a dopamine-fuelled spectacle, while rare cards are increasingly being treated as alternative investments.
Nostalgia, TikTok, the thrill of a lucky pull and the chance to turn a Charizard into cold, hard cash. It’s basically the casino economy, but make it Pikachu.
While some are hunting rare Pokémon cards, investors have a very different watchlist this week.
According to analysts, developments in the US-Iran conflict, crude oil prices and US inflation data will be the major drivers for the stock market.
On the domestic front, investors will continue to track foreign institutional flows, the rupee and domestic liquidity.
Meanwhile, Dalal Street is poised for another action-packed week, with 11 mainboard companies, including Rentomojo, Karamtara Engineering and Kanohar Electricals, looking to raise ₹7,055 crore through IPOs.
💡 Spotlight: UltraTech gives wire stocks a shock ⚡️
Cable and wire stocks fell sharply after UltraTech Cement entered the business with its new brand, Ultravolt.
Shares of established players such as Polycab, KEI and RR Kabel dropped as much as 8%, with investors worried that a powerful new competitor could intensify the fight for market share.
The concern is that UltraTech isn’t entering the market quietly. The Aditya Birla Group company is investing ₹1,800 crore and wants to become one of India’s top two wires and cables companies within five years.
There are plans to sell across 500+ districts and tap UltraTech’s existing network of thousands of outlets, retailers and warehouses.
Let’s hit it! 💪🏻
1 Big Thing: TCS makes a ₹70,000 crore AI bet 😮💨
TCS’ data centre subsidiary HyperVault is heading to Hyderabad. It has secured 264 acres to develop an AI data centre campus with up to 1 GW of capacity.
The deets: the company is expected to invest a whopping ₹70,000 crore to develop and manage the infrastructure, which will cater to AI companies and hyperscalers.
Funding the bet: HyperVault is being funded through a mix of equity from TCS and private equity firm TPG, along with debt. TCS had earlier secured a $1 billion (around ₹8,820 crore) equity investment from TPG for the data centre venture.
At full capacity, the Hyderabad campus could become one of India’s largest and most advanced AI infrastructure facilities.
Why now: India’s data centre industry has expanded rapidly over the past few years. The country’s total data centre capacity increased from around 375 MW in 2020 to 1,500 MW in 2025.
Zoom out: the boom isn’t limited to India. The global data centre market, valued at around $160 billion in FY26, is projected to reach $300 billion by FY30.
The bigger opportunity: the money flowing into data centres goes far beyond building the facilities themselves. It creates demand across construction, power and other infrastructure businesses.
With India’s installed data centre capacity projected to reach 7-7.5 GW by 2030 and beyond, the cumulative construction opportunity alone is estimated at $30 billion by FY30, potentially rising to $90 billion by FY35.
2. Rentomojo to enter the IPO club 💪
Furniture and appliance rental platform Rentomojo has filed its Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) for its IPO and plans to raise around ₹1,255.6 crore.
If the IPO goes through, Rentomojo will become the first Indian furniture and appliance rental startup to list on the public markets, putting it ahead of competitors like Furlenco and CityFurnish.
The deets: the IPO will comprise a fresh issue of ₹150 crore and an offer for sale of around 2.73 crore shares worth ₹1,105.6 crore. The company has fixed a price band of ₹384-404 per share, valuing Rentomojo at around ₹4,200 crore at the upper end.
Some numbers: Rentomojo’s operating revenue jumped 45.5% YoY to ₹387 crore in FY26, while its profit surged 142% to ₹104.2 crore.
Big picture: India’s home furniture and appliances market was worth around ₹4.27 lakh crore ($50 billion) in 2025, having grown at roughly 10% annually since 2021.
According to a Redseer report, Rentomojo held around 42-47% of the organised market by subscription revenue in FY25 and accounted for 50-55% of live subscribers in the overall home furniture and appliances rental market, excluding water purifiers.
3. Wearable tech’s main character era ✨
Ultrahuman has raised $70 million in fresh funding, led by Qualcomm Ventures, as the Bengaluru startup looks to expand beyond wearable health tech and build a larger business around data from the human body.
The bigger ambition: Ultrahuman is expanding its health features with tools for AFib detection, ovulation tracking and cardiovascular fitness.
It is also using its user base for opt-in research programmes focused on sleep, VO₂ Max and glucose metabolism, while betting heavily on the US, India and the UAE.
Larger market: the push comes as India’s smart wearable market enters a rapid growth phase. Valued at $2.94 billion in 2025, the market is projected to reach $10.26 billion by 2031.
4. Why do creators face payment delays? 😐
India now has over 41 lakh creators, more than four times the number in 2020. Brand campaigns grew too, but only from around 14,000 to 42,000 during the same period.
So while brands increasingly want smaller creators for their regional reach and engaged audiences, paid work remains scarce.
Around 85% of non-metro creators received no campaign in 2025. Those who did often waited up to 90 days for payment.
India’s creator economy is growing faster than creator incomes.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
What went up ⬆️
👓 BSE jumped 3% after SEBI said it would review how derivative settlement prices are calculated under the closing auction system.
🚀 HAL gained nearly 2% after GE Aerospace delivered three more Tejas Mk1A engines, taking total deliveries to 10.
📈 RVNL ended in the green after it received a ₹903 crore order from SJVN’s subsidiary for railway infrastructure work at Bihar’s 1,320 MW Buxar Thermal Power Project.
🥳 Jindal Worldwide surged nearly 20% after the company reappointed Amit Yamunadutt Agarwal as managing director.
What went down ⬇️
👎 Prestige Estates fell nearly 2% after Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (MREAT) reportedly ordered its Mahalaxmi Tower project converted back to residential use.
🫤 Tata Chemicals slipped 2.5% after Kenya’s President reportedly directed the company’s Magadi operations to shut down in the country.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
📈 NSE IPO: SEBI approved the long-awaited NSE IPO, clearing the way for what could become one of India’s largest public listings.
🙇🏼♀️ Cash crunch: Sugar Cosmetics raised ₹144.5 crore from A91 Partners as revenue and profit pressures persist, while early investors seek discounted exits.
👍🏻 Fuelling up: Ola Electric’s board approved raising up to ₹1,500 crore, while COO Hyun Shik Park resigned citing personal reasons.
💄 VLCC funding: BlackSoil Capital invested ₹110 crore in Carlyle-backed VLCC to support the beauty and wellness company’s expansion and business needs.
🚗 Job cuts: Volkswagen India plans to cut 12% of its workforce as part of a three-year restructuring to reduce costs and overhaul its India operations.
💊 Cancer partnership: Cipla’s US arm partnered with Qilu Pharmaceutical to develop and commercialise a Keytruda biosimilar in the US.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the Monday blues get to you.
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Disclaimer: This newsletter is for informational and research purposes only. Nothing here should be considered financial, investment, legal, or professional advice.
