Newsletter
Satellite bet gets wobbly, AI-powered payments, and, global spending maxes out
🗓️ Morning, folks! ☀️
India’s office market is booming, but companies are waking up to an awkward question: how much of that office space is actually being used? Office absorption hit a record 45.5 million sq ft in H1 2026. With hybrid work making attendance unpredictable, AI is now playing office detective.
At WeWork India, AI tracks when employees show up, which desks and meeting rooms they use and what sits empty. The data has helped turn underused spaces into desks, redesign areas for multiple uses and decide which buildings to lease and how to configure them.
And this matters because GCCs alone leased 31.4 million sq ft in 2025. When you’re paying for millions of square feet, knowing which corners are earning their keep can save some serious money.
Meanwhile, to the companies still figuring this out: have you tried installing ambient, fairy lights and lo-fi music?
Let’s get back to the markets,
Markets remained under pressure on Tuesday, with the Sensex and Nifty falling up to 0.6%.
(Market bites here)
Sector-wise, IT was again the biggest drag, falling 2%, while realty, FMCG and metals also ended in the red. Autos, media and oil & gas managed to stay positive.
Among stocks, Infosys, Wipro and HCLTech fell around 2% each. Only 10 Nifty stocks ended higher, with Axis Bank and Max Healthcare among the top gainers
💡 Spotlight: India adds 405 defence items to local-first list 🛡️
Defence stocks including Paras Defence, Zen Tech and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and others gained up to 10% after the government released its sixth Positive Indigenisation List, basically a list of defence equipment India wants to stop relying on imports for and make locally instead.
The government has identified 405 defence items worth an estimated ₹3,070 crore that will eventually be bought from Indian manufacturers once they are developed locally.
The list includes parts and equipment used in fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, warships, missiles, radars, sonars and satellite communication systems. Platforms such as the Tejas, Su-30MKI, T-72 and T-90 are among those covered.
Let’s hit it! 💪🏻
1 Big Thing: Nelco’s $20 million satellite bet spooks investors 📉
Tata Group’s Nelco fell 11% on Tuesday after the company announced a $20 million investment in US-based Lunar Holdco.
Lunar is a US satellite technology company working on ways to connect regular phones and other devices directly to satellites. Nelco helps businesses stay connected using satellites in places where regular mobile towers, fibre or broadband may not work well.
What’s going on: Nelco is investing but it isn’t simply buying shares today. The investment is being made through Compulsorily Convertible Debentures or CCDs.
Think of CCDs as money Nelco is giving Lunar today that will eventually turn into shares of Lunar.
Until that conversion happens, the CCDs will earn Nelco a 7% annual compounded return.
Nelco doesn’t control Lunar after this investment. We don’t even know exactly how much of Lunar Nelco will eventually own because that will depend on when and how the CCDs convert into shares.
The Why: Nelco wants access to the satellite-based direct-to-device (D2D) and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity in India and other markets. The partnership will let Nelco use Elveo’s satellites to provide internet connectivity and computing services to industries such as automobiles, shipping, energy and government.
Why stock fell: investors appear to be worried about the risk versus reward.
Nelco is committing roughly $20 million to a company that hasn’t started generating commercial revenue in India yet. At the same time, investors don’t currently know exactly how much of Lunar Nelco will eventually own.
And despite putting in that money, Nelco isn’t getting control of the company.
While we are on deals,
Samvardhana Motherson is increasing its ownership in Chinese automotive technology company Shenzhen Autocruis.
Its subsidiary SMR Automotive (Langfang) will spend around $440,000 to buy another 0.15% stake in Autocruis from an existing shareholder. Motherson’s indirect ownership will increase from 67.78% to 67.93% once the deal is completed.
2. Your payments got an AI upgrade 🤖
Razorpay is launching Vulcan, an AI model built specifically for digital payments.
Note: It is India’s first AI payments foundation model.
What’s the deal: before you pay, Vulcan can pick the payment route most likely to work, flag suspicious transactions and predict which payment method you’re most likely to successfully use.
It’s powered by NVIDIA GPUs and AWS infrastructure, and parts of the technology are already being used in live payment environments.
These include companies like Blinkit, Bachatt and redBus. Unlike ChatGPT, it isn’t trained on language, it’s trained to understand patterns in payments.
Why does this matter: India’s digital payment boom has also meant more fraud. In FY25, 12.6 lakh UPI fraud cases involving ₹981 crore were reported. At the same time, UPI processed a massive 20.47 billion transactions worth ₹26.32 lakh crore in November alone.
Razorpay says Vulcan has improved payment success rates by 8-10%, detected 8x more international card fraud, and identified 5x more fraudulent or disputed transactions without increasing alerts. It can make these decisions in just 29 milliseconds, significantly making digital payments safer and more reliable.
3. How rich is the richest person in each country? 💰
Being the richest person in your country can mean very different things depending on where you live.
Elon Musk tops the US at a massive $839 billion, while India’s richest, Mukesh Ambani, sits at $99.7 billion.
The gap at the top is wild. Musk’s fortune is more than eight times Ambani’s and larger than the fortunes shown here for India, China, Japan and Russia combined.
4. How did Anthropic overtake OpenAI?
Anthropic has reportedly crossed $65 billion in annualised revenue run rate, ahead of OpenAI at roughly $40 billion.
The twist is that Anthropic did it without winning the consumer AI race.
While OpenAI built ChatGPT for the masses, Anthropic went harder after developers, coding teams and enterprises. That bet is now paying off.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
What went up ⬆️
⚙️ INDO-MIM jumped 10% after reporting strong Q1 earnings.
💻 Jyoti CNC Automation surged 8% while EMS gained nearly 2% as government approved 31 proposals worth ₹7,877 crore under electronics component scheme.
🛡️ Sigma Advanced Systems hit 5% upper circuit after the defence firm said India has become the first country to establish anti-drone patrolling of border and urban areas.
🏭 Tube Investments rose nearly 8% reacting to Q1 results data.
🥛 Milky Mist shares hit 10% upper circuit after market debut, stock rallies 30% from IPO price.
What went down ⬇️
💸 Paytm fell more than 2% after 2.95% equity worth ₹2,949 crore changed hands in a block deal.
📉 BSE declined for 5th straight day on Tuesday amid two downgrades in two days.
🪥 Colgate declined more than 3% as brokerages flagged margin concerns following its investor meet.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
💸 Overseas gap: India spent $3.1 billion more overseas than it earned during the April-June quarter, slightly higher than the $2.9 billion gap last year.
🛣️ Road haul: Ceigall India and Sushee Infra Mining bagged four road projects worth ₹2,150 crore from Andhra Pradesh government.
☀️ Solar win: Advait Greenergy bagged a ₹116 crore order from KPI Green Energy for a 200 MW solar project in Rajasthan.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday 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.
