Good morning. It is the last Saturday of August, and markets shrugged off a noisy week to end it on a firmer note. There is a fair bit to get through this morning, spanning defence and diplomacy, a fast-moving disaster in the neighbourhood, and some uncomfortable accountability closer to home.
In today's newsletter: India's Javelin missile deal with Washington, the worsening Nepal-China flood disaster, and a Karnataka minister's tearful exit over a corruption scandal.
Closing levels ยท 2026-08-28
Sensex 77,264.51 UP 0.43% |
Nifty 50 24,175.65 UP 0.35% |
USD/INR 95.38 DOWN 0.2% |
Brent Crude $88.22 DOWN 0.34% |
IT, pharma and metal stocks pulled the benchmarks higher on Friday, snapping a two-day losing streak. The rupee firmed too, helped by dollar inflows tied to the coming close of the RBI's discounted NRI deposit window, while Brent held just above $88 after the previous session's rebound.
India finalises deal to buy US Javelin anti-tank missiles
The Indian Army has signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the American-made Javelin anti-tank guided missile system, with US Ambassador Sergio Gor confirming the acquisition on Friday, calling it "big news" for the defence relationship between the two countries.
The order, processed through the US Foreign Military Sales route, covers 100 FGM-148 rounds, 25 lightweight command launch units, trainers, simulation rounds and life-cycle support. Lockheed Martin and RTX jointly built the shoulder-fired system, which lets an operator fire and take cover while the missile tracks its target on its own.
The deal has been on and off the table for close to sixteen years. Its finalisation now signals how far defence cooperation between New Delhi and Washington has advanced even as the two governments have spent much of this year sparring over trade.
Defence and trade have been running on separate tracks all year. Even as tariff talks turned tense, military ties kept deepening, a reminder that Washington treats the two relationships as largely independent levers.
Beyond the missiles themselves, officials see room for co-production between Indian and American firms, which would matter far more for the domestic defence-manufacturing push than the purchase order alone.
Nepal-China flood toll passes 579 as a new lake threatens fresh deluge
The death toll from last week's catastrophic flash flooding on the Nepal-China border has climbed to at least 579 in Nepal, with seven more confirmed dead on the Chinese side and hundreds still missing, including foreign nationals. Both governments have confirmed the cause as a high-altitude glacial lake outburst.
Rescue crews, who had paused operations after a barrier lake formed by the landslide broke its banks, have resumed the search after a second, newly formed lake was spotted in aerial footage, raising fears of another sudden release of water into the valley below.
China has been airlifting firefighters into the disaster zone by drone, while Nepal continues to coordinate with India and other neighbours on search and rescue, underscoring how quickly a glacial event in the high Himalayas can turn into a cross-border emergency.
Karnataka minister B Nagendra quits amid Rs 89 crore scam row
Karnataka minister B Nagendra resigned as Cabinet minister and MLA on Friday, breaking down as he announced the decision, amid allegations tied to the diversion of Rs 89.63 crore from the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.
Nagendra said he was stepping down voluntarily to spare the Congress party embarrassment, as the BJP kept up pressure with sustained protests. It is the second time he has left the Cabinet over the same corporation's finances, a controversy that first surfaced after an accounts official at the corporation died by suicide in 2024.
Breaking.exe
Biofuel funding. Pune-based Greenjoules raised Rs 62 crore from Amazon and Singularity to scale up its plants converting agricultural waste like rice husk and paddy straw into diesel-replacing biofuel. |
GeoAI raise. Gurugram's NeoGeoInfo Technologies raised $20 million from SBI's Neev Fund and Aavishkaar Capital to build out its geospatial intelligence and GeoAI platform for government and infrastructure clients. |
Anthropic wins in court. A US federal judge struck down the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, ruling the move was illegal retaliation after the AI firm refused to let the military use Claude for surveillance or autonomous weapons. |
Pangaea Revisited
Ukraine barrage. Russia's defence ministry said its forces carried out a massive overnight strike on nine Ukrainian cities, hitting refineries and logistics hubs alongside residential blocks. |
Gaza ceasefire strain. Israeli strikes killed five people in Gaza and three in the West Bank on Friday despite the fragile US-brokered ceasefire, as the UK separately warned Israel against removing British officials from the ceasefire coordination centre. |
Ebola spreads in Congo. The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record has spread to two more health zones in eastern Congo, taking the total to 60 zones affected and nearly 2,800 deaths among almost 5,800 confirmed cases. |
Also, Also, Also
Gandhi memoir dropped. Penguin India has pulled out of publishing Sonia Gandhi's memoir after she rejected the publisher's proposed edits, with HarperCollins India reportedly close to picking it up instead. |
Hockey heartbreak. India finished eighth at the Hockey World Cup after losing to Belgium on penalties following a 3-3 draw, with captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring twice including a late equaliser to force the shootout. |
Jio's IPO clears Sebi. Sebi cleared Jio Platforms' IPO plans along with six other public offers on Friday, a regulatory green light that sets up what could become one of India's largest ever listings. |