Newsletter
Auto sales surge, Bharat Forge gets Premji, and TB drug tie-up.🗓️ Morning, folks! ☀️
Markets wrapped up Monday on a strong note, finishing near the day’s highs.
Both the Sensex and Nifty jumped over 1% each, as late buying helped the benchmarks shrug off early volatility.
Sector-wise, it was a broad-based rally. All indices ended in the green except IT, with strong support coming from banks, power, autos, and capital market stocks.
💡 Spotlight: Jan auto sales on a roll 🚙
India’s top carmakers kicked off 2026 on a strong note, with solid January sales offering an early snapshot of auto demand this year.
Maruti Suzuki led the pack, posting its highest-ever monthly sales at 2.36 lakh units. This included 1.78 lakh units sold domestically, 7,643 OEM units, and a record 51,020 exports.
Other strong performers included Kia, Mahindra & Mahindra, Renault, and Hero MotoCorp.
The momentum is supported by the GST cut in September 2025, income tax rebates, and steady demand across the auto market.
Let’s hit it!
1 Big thing: India-US trade truce 🤝
India and the US have finally sealed a long-awaited trade deal, easing months of tension. The headline is, 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian exports is now cut to 18%.
The announcement came straight from US President Donald Trump, who shared the update on Truth Social, calling it a breakthrough after prolonged negotiations.
India also responded as Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked President Trump over the same.
The backdrop: Trump had imposed a 25% tariff on Indian exports last year after trade talks dragged on. Things escalated when the tariff was doubled to 50%. The US also accused India of buying Russian oil and indirectly backing Moscow in the Ukraine war.
What changed: Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian oil and instead ramp up energy purchases from the US and possibly Venezuela. That concession appears to have unlocked the tariff rollback.
The big promise: according to Trump, India will also move to cut tariffs and non-tariff barriers on American goods to zero.
He claimed India has committed to “BUY AMERICAN” across energy, tech, agriculture, coal, and more, with total purchases potentially crossing $500 billion.
2. Bharat Forge gets Premji boost 🔧
Bharat Forge shares jumped nearly 5% after its subsidiary, JS Auto Cast Foundry, raised ₹300 crore from Premji Invest through a fresh equity infusion.
JS Auto is Bharat Forge’s castings arm, making critical auto and industrial components that go into engines and heavy machinery.
Castings are metal parts made by pouring molten metal into moulds, which are then used in vehicles, machines, and heavy equipment.
Why it matters: demand for auto and industrial components is picking up, helped by EV transition and global supply chain diversification. This capital gives JS Auto the firepower to grow faster than the industry and grab market share.
Plus, India’s casting industry is still highly fragmented, with many small, inefficient players. Well-funded companies with scale, tech, and capital are best placed to lead consolidation.
3. Lupin, US-based TB Alliance partnership 🤝
Lupin is collaborating with TB Alliance to advance the development and commercialisation of Telacebec (Q203), an investigational drug for tuberculosis.
TB Alliance is a drug developer focused on fighting infectious diseases, while Lupin is a global pharma major with deep strength in manufacturing and global supply chains.
The deets: under the agreement, TB Alliance will continue to lead the clinical development of Telacebec. Lupin will step in on manufacturing, regulatory approvals, and global distribution.
Why it’s important: current treatments of Tuberculosis are long, toxic, and expensive, often requiring 6-18 months of therapy, which leads to poor patient compliance and higher failure rates.
Telacebec targets TB in a new way, offering the potential for shorter, more effective treatment regimens, especially for drug-resistant strains.
Despite years of progress, TB remains stubbornly high in parts of Asia, with India with nearly 195 cases per 100,000 and Indonesia still carrying a heavy disease burden, far above regional peers.
4. Eco-friendly graphite in making?🔋
Rain Industries’ German arm has rolled out the USE-G research programme, a three-year initiative worth €1.7 million to create cleaner, greener ways to process graphite.
Rain Industries is a global manufacturer operating across carbon products, advanced materials and cement. It converts byproducts from oil refining and steelmaking into high-value raw materials used by industries such as aluminium and steel.
The deets: USE-G, is short for Environmentally Friendly and Safe Graphite Extraction for Europe’s Battery Industry.
The project aims to first test natural and recycled graphite separately. It will then see if they can be combined to make battery materials for commercial use.
Importance: the initiative serves two goals at once. It aims to reduce Europe’s reliance on China, currently the largest exporter of graphite to the region. At the same time, it also helps Germany develop cleaner, more sustainable graphite processing technologies.
5. Why is India’s startup boom concentrated? 🔎
India is one of the world’s fastest-growing startup markets, but the growth hasn’t spread evenly across the country. Data on DPIIT-recognised startups shows that a large share of new ventures are still coming from just a few states.
Nearly 56% of India’s startups are based in just five states. Maharashtra leads with over 35,000 startups, making up 17% of the total. Karnataka follows with more than 20,000, while Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Gujarat each account for roughly 9-10%.
6. Stock that kept us interested 🚀
1. HBL Engineering bags ₹575 cr KAVACH order 🚆
HBL Engineering ended more than 2% higher after it won a ₹575 crore order from Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai to supply, test, and commission on-board KAVACH equipment (Version 4.0) for Indian Railways.
Context: KAVACH is India’s homegrown train safety system that automatically prevents collisions by controlling train speed and stopping trains when there’s a risk.
Why it matters: the order shows that KAVACH is moving from pilot projects to large-scale rollout, till now the system was mostly under tests.
It also highlights a shift in railway spending toward high-value safety and signalling technology. Instead of focusing only on tracks and trains.
For HBL, this marks a business transition, from a battery maker to a meaningful player in railway and defence electronics.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🌍 Power shift: IMF data shows India set to contribute more to global growth than the US in 2026, prompting Elon Musk says, ‘the balance of power is changing.’
🏭 Factory momentum: India’s manufacturing PMI rose to 55.4 in January from 55 last month, signalling steady expansion in factory activity.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.
And if you’d like to place your brand on this newsletter, let us know.
Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.
