Good morning. Diplomacy and deal-making set the tone today, while markets wait on the central bank's next move.
In today's newsletter: India and Switzerland sign five pacts, Pakistan and Turkiye send troops to Saudi Arabia, and A $20 billion bet on Indian AI computing.
Closing levels · 5 October 2026
USD/INR 96.30 ▼ 0.03% · rupee stronger |
Brent Crude $100.21 ▼ 2.00% |
The Sensex rebounded 473 points on Monday after eight straight weekly losses, helped by a 2% slide in Brent, while the rupee held near 96.3 to the dollar ahead of the RBI's policy decision.
India and Switzerland sign five pacts, including five-year visas and a young professionals exchange
India and Switzerland signed five agreements on Monday after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swiss President Guy Parmelin. They cover migration and mobility, an exchange of young professionals, transport technology, research, and technology transfer.
The biggest is a Migration and Mobility Partnership offering multiple-entry visas valid for up to five years. The two sides also agreed to widen Swiss market access for Indian exports and deepen cooperation in nuclear energy and defence.
The visit marks the first year of the India-EFTA trade pact, and Parmelin said Swiss firms are keen on India.
Under that pact, India aims to attract $100 billion in investment over 15 years.
If you are a student or early-career professional, the young professionals exchange creates a formal route to work and train in Switzerland. Frequent business travellers can skip repeat visa paperwork with a five-year multiple-entry visa, and exporters should find Swiss buyers easier to reach.
India was not on Switzerland's existing list of trainee exchange partners, whose schemes grant work permits of up to 18 months, so the young professionals pact opens a new door for Indians.
Pakistan and Turkiye to rush troops to Saudi Arabia after Houthi attacks
Turkiye and Pakistan will make a rapid deployment of troops to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defence alliance, the three countries said on Monday, as the kingdom faces escalating attacks from Yemen's Houthis.
The Houthis said they struck Riyadh's international airport and an Aramco refinery. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces, meanwhile, say they have retaken Mocha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The three countries triggered collective deterrence under their Mecca pact, signed in August, which treats an attack on one as an attack on all. For India, Pakistan's army is now committed by treaty to a live Gulf war.
AM Intelligence orders 20,000 more Nvidia chips and plans $20 billion more spending
AM Intelligence has placed firm orders for 20,000 more Nvidia Rubin GPUs, the chips that train and run AI models, for sites in India and Malaysia, taking its total capacity to 100 megawatts.
It plans to bring another 300 megawatts to market in the next 15 months, with capital spending of more than $20 billion on top of the $6 billion already committed.
Its first phase is a 30MW AI factory in Hyderabad due online in the first quarter of 2027, aimed at cloud providers, AI labs and sovereign AI projects. More capacity at home gives Indian AI builders an option closer to their users.
Breaking.exe
Invisible AI marks. OpenAI is rolling out an invisible watermark in ChatGPT and Codex text, starting with users in the European Union to comply with its AI Act. |
Pentagon cuts Anthropic. The Pentagon has stopped using Anthropic's AI tools after labelling the company a supply chain risk in February for refusing to remove safety guardrails. |
Denmark breach. Hackers stole records of 8 million people from a Danish government database, including names, addresses and state ID numbers of residents abroad and the deceased. |
Patent truce. Huawei and Qualcomm signed a multi-year patent deal covering 5G, AI and computing, with Huawei's licensing value set to exceed $6.9 billion. |
Finance 101
Zudio hits 1,000. Tata's fashion retailer Trent grew revenue 23% to ₹5,788 crore in July to September, and its budget chain Zudio crossed 1,000 stores. |
Weak debut. Snapdeal's parent AceVector listed 12% below its IPO price, a loss on day one for anyone who got shares in its ₹420 crore public offer. |
Marico buys in. Parachute maker Marico paid ₹1,012 crore for another 24.09% of Plix, the plant-based nutrition brand, and will own it fully by July 2027. |
SEBI warning. SEBI chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey launched Project Jagrook, an investor education drive, and warned against acting on anonymous tips and social media finfluencers. |
Pangaea Revisited
Taliban warrants. The International Criminal Court unsealed arrest warrants for four Taliban leaders on gender persecution charges, though arrests look remote while they control Afghanistan. |
Plague scare. Nearly 200 people are under medical observation in Russia's Irkutsk region after a worker at a plague research institute died. |
Indians on board. Indians were aboard a Turkish-owned corn ship hit by Russian drones in the Black Sea, Zelensky said; the captain was killed and eleven crew were rescued. |
Spain votes early. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called an early election for November 29 amid mounting anger over the country's housing crisis. |
Also, Also, Also
Nobel for light. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel medicine prize for optogenetics, which uses light to test how specific neurons shape behaviour and emotion. |
Bench fills up. The Centre appointed three High Court Chief Justices to the Supreme Court, taking it to 37 judges, one short of full strength. |
Bustards fly free. Two captive-bred Great Indian Bustards, a critically endangered bird, were released into the wild in Rajasthan after nearly a decade of conservation work. |
Archer dies. Bestselling novelist and former Conservative MP Jeffrey Archer died at 86 at his home, his publisher said. |