Newsletter
Precious metals rally, Hero Moto enters Spain, and Nestle stands strong.
🗓 Morning, folks!
The bulls were out in full force on Thursday as the Sensex & Nifty jumped its highest in nearly four months. With investors betting on strong corporate earnings and festive demand, the rally had a little something for everyone.
Banks led the party with Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank doing the heavy lifting.
💡 Spotlight: India flies past China in air power race 🇮🇳
India has soared past China to become the world’s third-strongest Air Force, as per the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft.
We now rank just behind the US and Russia.
Let’s hit it!
1 Big Thing: Nestlé India Q2 results saw strong sales margin dip 🍜
Nestlé India served a strong quarter with high single-digit volume growth and record domestic sales, beating street estimates. The stock ended more than 4% higher on the back of strong earnings.
Note: this was the company’s highest-ever domestic sales quarter,
By the numbers:
- Revenue up 10.6% YoY at ₹5,644 crore vs ₹5,104 crore
- Net profit at ₹753 crore, slightly below last year’s ₹986 crore but above expectations
Rising input costs, especially in edible oils punched margins a bit, at 21.9%, down 100 basis points from last year.
What worked: strong demand for everyday favourites like Maggi, Nescafé, and KitKat powered growth across three of its four categories.
Why it matters: beating forecasts in a tough cost environment shows Nestlé’s deep distribution and pricing power. The company is also banking on cooling milk and coffee prices post-festive season to ease cost pressures.
Zoom out: India’s FMCG sector is finding its rhythm again after months of rural slowdown. With inflation cooling and festive demand kicking in, brands like Nestlé, HUL, and Britannia are seeing steady pantry restocking.
While we are on earnings,
Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, missed profit expectations, but its strong revenue growth stole the spotlight.
Note: the stock however slipped as food delivery growth slowed to 14%, below previous levels. In simple terms, Zomato is earning slightly more per order because discounts have reduced, but overall order growth has cooled.
By the numbers:
- Net profit down 63% YoY at ₹65 cr
- Revenue up 183% YoY at ₹13,590 cr
- Food ordering revenue grew to ₹2,485 cr
- Quick commerce revenue up 755% YoY
Store expansion: the company said it has maintained a steady pace of net store additions over the past few quarters and aims to reach 3,000 stores by March 2027.
2. Strong show for Infosys ✅
Infosys delivered a solid Q2 show, ticking all the right boxes and staying in tune with street expectations.
Breaking it down:
- Net profit: up 13.2% YoY at ₹7,364 crore
- Revenue: up 8.6% YoY to ₹44,490 crore
What powered the performance: resilient margins, strong cash flows, and steady deal momentum. Infosys also sweetened the deal for investors with an interim dividend of ₹23 per share, up 9.5% YoY.
The company further secured $3.1 billion in new contracts during the quarter, with 67% of them being net new deals.
3. Hero MotoCorp joins Noria Motos to debut in Spain 🤝
Hero MotoCorp has officially announced that it has entered Spain’s two-wheeler market in partnership with Noria Motos.
Noria Motos is a subsidiary of ONEX group and is involved in the distribution and import of motorcycles in Spain.
The deets: under the partnership, the company will launch through three models exclusively developed to suit the Spanish terrains.
The move makes Spain the 50th country where Hero MotoCorp has its presence. The partnership also comes at the backdrop of Hero’s recent foray into Italy.
Zoom out: the motorcycle market in Spain is steadily growing at the rate of 5.4% and is expected to reach a valuation of $2.31 billion by 2030. Hero Moto Corp can optimise its strong investment in R&D, wide product portfolio and high quality to compete against legacy players.
4. Waaree Renewable eyes expanding its portfolio 👀
Waaree Renewable Technologies plans to broaden its footprint by expanding into data centers and battery energy storage systems, the company’s management told the Financial Express.
Waaree Renewable Technologies builds and maintains solar power projects, offering Engineering Procurement, and construction (EPC), O&M, and battery storage solutions as part of India’s clean energy push.
What’s happening: the expansion aligns with the company’s strategy to move beyond traditional solar EPC and into the broader clean energy infrastructure ecosystem.
Currently, Waaree Renewable Technologies has an order book of 3.4 gigawatts, which it aims to execute within the next 12-15 months. As part of its growth plans, the company will set up two solar power plants in Maharashtra, each producing 14 megawatts of electricity.
Big theme: India’s battery energy storage systems market is expected to reach $2,322 million by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate of 25.8% during 2025-2033.
5. Kuku FM tunes into a $500 million valuation 🎧
Google-backed Kuku FM has raised $85 million in Series C funding, led by Granite Asia, through a mix of primary capital infusion and secondary share sales.
Kuku FM is an Indian audio content platform that offers a variety of audio content like audiobooks, stories, and courses, available through its mobile app and website.
What’s brewing: the funding round values Kuku at more than double its previous valuation to around $500 million.
In 2024, digital media surpassed television to become India’s largest entertainment segment, contributing 32% of total revenues, around $9.13 billion. Growing at an expected annual rate of 11.2% through 2027, the boom has sparked a wave of innovation.
Startups like Kuku, Pocket Entertainment, ShareChat, Dashverse, and Eloelo are betting big on microdramas, short, serialised video stories made for mobile, as they race to capture India’s fast-growing digital audience.
6. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
1. BLS International wins a major contract from MEA
Shares of BLS International zoomed 16.5% after the company announced that it won a three-year contract from the Ministry of External Affairs.
BLS International is a global company that provides services of visa, passport, attestation, and e-governance to governments and citizens.
The deets: this government project is to establish and operate Indian Visa Application Centres for a three-year period in China. These IVACs will ensure a smooth and steady flow visa application process.
Under this deal, the company will set up and run Indian Visa Application Centres in 3 cities of China including Beijing & Shanghai.
Big picture: the order comes at a crucial point in India’s geopolitical history as it is attempting to revive ties with China post tariff woes.
The global visa services market is also projected to grow at the rate of 16.4% and reach a valuation of $55.4 billion by 2034.
2. KEC bags ₹1,038 crore Saudi power deal ⚡
KEC International bagged a project worth over ₹1,000 crore to help build a major power station in Saudi Arabia.
Note: this is the company’s largest-ever substation project.
The deets: the project is to design, supply, and install a 380 kV GIS substation. This basically means a high-voltage power hub that helps safely transmit electricity over long distances and keeps the grid running smoothly.
Big theme: Indian infrastructure companies are winning big in Saudi Arabia as the country pushes its Vision 2030 plan to modernise power, transport, and industrial networks.
With a focus on renewables and grid expansion, Saudi Arabia is awarding large contracts to firms with proven expertise and cost efficiency. These are the areas where Indian players like KEC, L&T, and Kalpataru are bagging major orders.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
⚡ Power shift: Ola Electric entered the ₹1 lakh crore battery energy storage market with its first BESS product, Ola Shakti, aiming to drive India’s energy independence.
🛒 Quick growth: Zepto raised $450 million led by CalPERS at a $7 billion valuation, gearing up for IPO with 1,000+ stores and growing profitability.
Aight folks its Diwali time and since the markets are closed for the next 2 days we thought we’d chill some too! So no NL for a couple days, and we’ll see y’all straight on Thursday, like clockwork!
Hope y’all have an awesome time with your loved ones! Happy Diwali 🪔
Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.
