Newsletter
Fertiliser stocks soar, Solar bets get bigger, and Marico targets protein.
🗓 Morning, folks! ☀️
Indian markets had a rough Tuesday, with benchmark indices closing sharply lower as selling pressure spread across the board. Financials led the drag, while broader markets took a bigger hit.
Adding to the gloom, the Rupee slipped to a fresh record low of ₹91.08/$, down over 1% in just five sessions.
💡 Spotlight: Fertiliser stocks rally on urea supply assurance ↗️
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has informed the Lok Sabha that India has a comfortable buffer of urea for the ongoing Rabi season.
Urea stocks rose sharply from 48.6 lakh tonnes to 68.6 lakh tonnes in October, driven by government measures such as timely imports and detailed state-wise assessment to ensure accurate allocation. A favourable monsoon also contributed to higher demand.
Markets reacted positively to the announcement, with stocks like Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, Paradeep Phosphates, Madras Fertilisers, and RCF gaining in trade.
Let’s hit it!
1 Big Thing: Insurance in India gets a makeover ✅
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Insurance Law Amendment Bill, 2025, formally bringing it before Parliament and putting India’s insurance sector in the spotlight.
Market mood: it reacted quickly, with insurance stocks like HDFC Life, SBI Life and Max Financial drawing attention.
So, what’s in the bill: at its core, the bill proposes updates to key laws, the Insurance Act, 1938, the LIC Act, 1956, and the IRDAI Act, 1999.
The biggest change is the proposal to raise the foreign direct investment limit in insurance companies from 74% to 100%.
Alongside this, the bill gives the insurance regulator, IRDAI, more powers to supervise the industry and set limits on commissions and payouts to agents and intermediaries.
Why it matters: in simple terms, foreign insurers will be able to fully own insurance companies in India, making it easier for global players to invest and operate here.
This matters because insurance penetration in India remains low, around 3% for life insurance and close to 1% for general insurance. The government hopes higher foreign investment will bring more capital, better products, improved services and wider coverage.
So far, the sector has attracted about ₹82,000 crore in FDI, and the higher cap could unlock much more in the coming years.
2. Tata Power’s ₹6,500 crore solar bet ☀️
Tata Power announced that it is set to finalise a massive 10 GW wafer and ingot project worth ₹6,500 crore by January next year.
Ingots and wafers are critical inputs in solar panel manufacturing. Purified silicon is first formed into ingots, which are then sliced into wafers and processed into solar cells.
A 10 GW capacity facility can generate enough power to supply 50-60 lakh Indian households on average and help avoid 8-10 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year.
The deets: the company is evaluating multiple locations across states such as Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. According to the company, the final site will be decided after reviewing state-specific policies and available incentives.
Why it matters: setting up a wafer and ingot project would make Tata Power a fully integrated solar manufacturing player. The company already has capabilities in solar cell and module production.
Big picture: India has strong solar capacity with 64 GW of modules and 12-15 GW of cells, but wafer and ingot manufacturing remains negligible.
Building domestic capacity would help Indian manufacturers control technology, quality, and wafer design, and better adopt next-generation cells like TOPCon and HJT.
3. Marico goes protein shopping 🛍️
Marico is reportedly in talks to acquire Cosmix as it looks to strengthen its digital-first health and wellness portfolio.
Cosmix is a smaller, D2C health startup specialising in plant-based protein products.
Marico is the familiar FMCG major known for brands like Parachute and Saffola, but it has been aggressively expanding its D2C presence by acquiring and scaling up brands like Plix, True Elements, and Beardo.
The deets: while the final deal terms are private, industry sources suggest the sale could value Cosmix at around ₹300 crore. This provides a quick exit for its only external investor, Namita Thapar, who had invested ₹1 crore for 1% equity during the 2024 season of Shark Tank.
Why it matters: this acquisition will help Marico tap directly into the surging demand for protein in daily meals. Marico’s D2C digital businesses already contribute ₹900 crore and the company targets scaling this to ₹2,000–2,500 crore in the next three years.
4. Solex Energy & Malaysia’s TT Vision partner for solar automation ☀️
Solex Energy (India) partnered with Malaysia’s TT Vision to bring solar manufacturing automation, technology access, and engineer training to India.
In simple terms, Solex wants to use advanced Malaysian factory automation and training from TT Vision to build solar panels faster and better. This will help the company to scale up their business and make their manufacturing world-class.
What’s going on: as part of the deal, TT Vision will provide specialised technical training to Solex engineers at its facility in Penang, Malaysia, and at its upcoming operations in India.
Solex will get special priority to use TT Vision’s best automatic technology.
Zoom out: as of June 2025, India’s operational solar module capacity has reached approximately 120 GW and solar cell capacity is at around 29.3 GW, reflecting huge increases of 216% and 344% respectively since 2022.
This push is critical because India still heavily relies on imports for the upstream components like polysilicon and wafers.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
1. ION Exchange charges up on orders worth ₹205 crore ⬆️
ION Exchange (India) has secured contracts worth about ₹205 crore from Rayzon Energy and INOX Solar. The stock gained 5% intraday on the back of this news.
What’s happening: the order is for the supply and execution of ultra-pure water and wastewater treatment systems for solar manufacturing projects.
The contract covers water-related systems needed to run the plant, including facilities to produce clean water and to treat and recycle wastewater. This will support Rayzon’s 5.1 GW solar power project at Kathwada village.
In another deal, INOX Solar Limited has given an order of around ₹110 crore to ION Exchange.
The company will set up water purification and wastewater treatment systems for INOX Solar’s solar cell manufacturing plant in Odisha, ensuring that water used in the factory is cleaned, reused, and not discharged as waste.
2. SEPC scores major railway project in Rajasthan 🚃
SEPC shares rallied over 4% after it won a railway infrastructure project worth ₹269.6 crore under the Ajmer-Chanderiya Doubling Project.
The deets: the project has been awarded to the VPRPL-SBEL joint venture.
SEPC will handle the actual execution of the work, while operating under the guidance and supervision of the joint venture, as per the North Western Railway. The work involves major groundwork and civil construction activities along the Mandpiya to Chanderiya railway section.
The why: the Mandpiya-Chanderiya stretch passes through Bhilwara and Chittorgarh, regions known for textiles, marble and stone, cement, and agriculture.
Farmers in the area grow wheat, maize, mustard, and pulses, which rely on rail transport to reach bigger markets.
Doubling the railway line will make it easier and cheaper for these goods to move faster across states.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
📉 Unemployment eases: India’s unemployment fell to a 7-month low of 4.7% in November, helped by higher rural and women workforce participation.
⬇️ PMI slips: India’s flash PMI fell to 58.9 in December, indicating slower growth in manufacturing and services, the weakest pace since February.
🧾 Zepto’s IPO plans: Zepto is reportedly set to file for a $500 million India IPO next week, with the issue including fresh shares and investor sell-downs to fund expansion.
⚖️ Trump sues BBC: Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC, alleging the network edited his Capitol speech misleadingly.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.
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