Good morning. It is Friday, and markets spent the week in a holding pattern, caught between elevated crude prices and a broadening earnings season that is quietly turning out mixed report cards across sectors. There is plenty to get through, so let us dive in.
In today's newsletter: Tech Mahindra's standout Q1 show, Trump's explosive election-meddling claims against China, and India and the EU's new research pact.
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Sensex 77,186.87 FLAT |
Nifty 50 24,072.75 DOWN 0.02% |
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USD/INR 96.33 UP 8P |
Brent Crude $84.68 UP |
Indices closed largely unchanged on Thursday as IT and auto stocks offset weakness in realty and financials, with Brent above $85 a barrel and fresh West Asia tensions keeping traders cautious.
Tech Mahindra's Q1 profit jumps 28%, deal wins cross $1 billion
Tech Mahindra kicked off the IT sector's earnings week on a strong note, with profit after tax rising 28.4% year-on-year to Rs 1,465 crore for the quarter ended June, on revenue of Rs 15,712 crore, up 17.7%.
The number that mattered most to analysts was new business: total contract value of new deal wins came in at $1,078 million, up a third from a year earlier, a sign that enterprise technology spending is finally loosening up after a cautious couple of years.
Tech Mahindra's beat stood out because the rest of the sector had a rougher day: Wipro, reporting the same afternoon, posted flat profit and its weakest margins in fifteen quarters. Q1 earnings season is turning into a story of haves and have nots within Indian IT, not a uniform rebound.
This is Tech Mahindra's fourth straight quarter of double-digit revenue growth, a turnaround for a company that was the sector's laggard as recently as two years ago under a new leadership and cost-restructuring push.
Trump accuses China of a "stunning" 2020 election data breach, releases classified files
In a primetime address, President Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 election he lost, claiming Beijing carried out what he called the largest compromise of election data in history, acquiring the files of 220 million American voters.
Trump went further, alleging that officials within his own administration and the "deep state" suppressed the intelligence from both him and the public, and said his administration would release tranches of classified documents to back the claims.
The allegations sit awkwardly against the intelligence community's own 2021 assessment, which found with high confidence that Beijing did not attempt to influence the 2020 outcome. Expect this fight over the declassified files to run for weeks.
India and the EU launch formal talks to join Europe's $110 billion research programme
Widening ties beyond their landmark free trade pact, India and the European Union agreed to start formal negotiations on India's association with Horizon Europe, the bloc's flagship research and innovation programme worth roughly $110 billion.
The two sides are aiming to close the deal before the end of the year. If it goes through, Indian universities, research institutes and companies would get access to joint projects with European partners, alongside new cooperation on green hydrogen and EV battery recycling.
For a country that still sends far more students and researchers abroad than it hosts joint projects at home, association with Horizon Europe would be a meaningful shift in how Indian science plugs into the global research economy.
Breaking.exe
Wipro's rough quarter. Wipro's Q1 profit rose less than 1% to Rs 3,360 crore, missing Street estimates as its operating margin fell to a 15-quarter low and large deal bookings dropped nearly 39%. |
Jio Financial's breakout quarter. Jio Financial Services' net profit surged 155% to Rs 830 crore, with revenue up 227%, as its lending, payments and insurance-broking arms all scaled fast. |
Piramal Finance's fundraise. Piramal Finance's profit climbed 67% to Rs 461 crore, and its board cleared plans to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore in fresh capital to fund further lending growth. |
Pangaea Revisited
Shorter US visas. The Trump administration is capping the length of visas issued to foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists, a change that will hit the large pool of Indian students and scholars in the US particularly hard. |
Gaza's power vacuum. A new report finds Israeli strikes have specifically targeted Gaza's civil administrators, officials say, undermining efforts to stand up a technocratic government to replace Hamas as the ceasefire drags on with no clear endpoint. |
Ebola outruns tracing. Health officials say 80% of new Ebola cases in eastern Congo now come from unknown chains of transmission, a sign the outbreak, which has killed more than 700 people, is spreading faster than it can be contained. |
Also, Also, Also
Inflation ticks up. India's retail inflation rose to 4.38% in June, crossing the RBI's 4% median target for the first time under the new price index series, driven mainly by costlier food. |
BHEL's turnaround. State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals swung to a Q1 profit of Rs 377 crore, against a loss a year ago, as revenue jumped 40% on stronger order execution. |
Polycab's strong quarter. Wires and cables maker Polycab India posted a 32% jump in profit to Rs 784 crore, with revenue up 39%, extending its run as one of the market's steadiest consumer-facing compounders. |
ITC Hotels checks in. ITC Hotels' net profit rose 35% to Rs 180 crore in its first full year as a standalone listed company, as travel demand held up through the quarter. |