Issue: 1202
· India’s credit flows surged
~38% in FY26, driven by RBI’s accommodative policy and lower interest rates.
· India continues to show
strong PMI expansion, reflecting robust domestic demand.
· IMF has downgraded global
growth outlook for 2026 amid geopolitical tensions.
· Oil prices surged above
$100/barrel, impacting inflation and global markets.
· US Federal Reserve leadership
uncertainty rises as Kevin Warsh’s nomination advances.
India likely to close FY26 with gross FDI of more than $90 billion, says CEA Nageswaran: Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran estimates gross Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Fiscal Year 2025-26 to exceed $90 billion. “FDI in April-February period exceeded $88 billion and there is one more month in the year. Going by this trend, our expectation is FY 26 is likely to close with over $90 billion with northward bias,” Nageswaran told businessline. If it happens, this will break the range of $70-80 billion or slightly more, recorded during last four years, he added. This could also mean that FDI in FY26 is expected to be 10 per cent higher than FY25.
(Business
Line)
Global oil supply hit by
14.5 million bpd loss as tanker capacity drops 50%: A 50% collapse in available
tanker capacity, a 130 million barrel logistics gap, and a 14.5 million barrels
per day (mbpd) disruption — equal to 57% of Gulf output are emerging as the
biggest barriers to restoring global oil supply, even as markets look beyond
immediate geopolitical tensions. The scale of the disruption is unprecedented.
Gulf crude production has dropped sharply to 11 mbpd from an estimated 25.4
mbpd pre-conflict, highlighting the depth of the supply shock hitting global
markets. At the same time, the ability to move oil has been severely
constrained. Available empty tanker capacity in the region has fallen by nearly
half, or around 130 million barrels, creating a critical bottleneck in
evacuating crude and restarting supply chains.
(Financial Express)
$20 billion investment,
tariff cuts proposed in India–New Zealand FTA deal to be signed on Monday: The India-New Zealand Free
Trade Agreement (FTA) to be signed today involves deep tariff cuts, easing of
standards and dispute settlement and a commitment from the island country to
invest $20 billion in India over 15 years. The pact could only be concluded on
the second attempt. The first comprised 10 rounds of negotiations between 2010
and 2015, but was abandoned over the issue of opening up India’s dairy sector. New
Zealand to eliminate duties on imports from India as soon as the FTA becomes
operational. At present, it maintains duties of around 10% on 450 items of
Indian exports like textile and apparel products, leather, ceramics, carpets,
automotive components and vehicle assembly. India has offered market
access in 70% of the tariff lines.
(Financial Express)
Finance Ministry asks PSBs
to complete wage revision process in next 12 months: he government has asked public
sector banks to initiate the process of negotiations for the 13th Bi-partite
settlement in a time-bound manner and finalise it in the next 12 months. The
wage revision for employees and officers of public sector banks would be due
from November 1, 2027. Just before the last
settlement process, the finance ministry had asked IBA to ensure that all
future wage negotiations should be finalised before the beginning of the
subsequent period so that the wage revision could be implemented from the due
date itself.
(Economic Times)
Axis Finance raises Rs 750
crore from Kedaara Capital via preferential issuance: Axis Finance has secured Rs
750 crore from Kedaara Capital through a preferential issuance. This investment
follows a Rs 1,500 crore infusion from Axis Bank. The capital boost will
strengthen Axis Finance's financial base and fuel its expansion. The company
serves retail, MSME, and wholesale loan sectors. Its business grew 22% to Rs
47,692 crore.
(Economic Times)
Belgian insurer Ageas eyes
India growth, explores acquisitions for expansion: Belgium’s leading insurer,
Ageas Group, with operations across life and non-life segments in India, is
aiming to break into the country’s top ten insurers and is open to acquisition
opportunities as it deepens its presence in one of its fastest-growing markets,
according to a report by The Times of India. Ageas' push follows its
earlier move to become the first insurer in India to hold over 70% in a life
insurance joint venture in September 2022, along with the acquisition of a 40%
stake in Royal Sundaram General Insurance, as part of its broader Asia strategy
spanning nine markets.
(Economic Times)
Axis Bank Q4 PAT
dips marginally as provisions jump: Axis Bank’s net profit for the quarter
ended March declined marginally to Rs 7,071 crore due to the additional
one-time provisioning taken by the bank during the quarter. “Based on an
assessment of evolving and unpredictable macroeconomic and geopolitical
uncertainties, the Bank created an additional one-time provision of Rs 2,001 crores
during the quarter,” the bank said. Overall, the provisions and contingencies
of the lender inched up to Rs 3,522 crore from Rs 1,359.35 crore a year ago. The
balance sheet grew 17% on year to Rs 18.87 lakh crore, with net advances up 19%
on year and total deposits up 14% on year.
(Financial Express)
UCO Bank Q4 FY26
results: Profit jumps 23% to Rs.801 cr: Public sector lender UCO Bank on Saturday
reported a 23 per cent jump in net profit to Rs.801 crore for the fourth
quarter ended March 31. The Kolkata-headquartered lender had earned net profit
of Rs.653 crore during January-March quarter of FY25. However, the income
during the March quarter declined to Rs.7,365 crore, from Rs.8,137 crore in the
same period of the preceding fiscal, UCO Bank said in a regulatory filing. On
the asset quality side, the bank's Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) were
reduced to 2.17 per cent of gross advances as of March 31, 2026, from 2.69 per
cent by the end of March 2025. Net NPAs also came down to 0.27 per cent of the
advances from 0.5 per cent at the end of 2025.
(Business Standard)
Airtel pushes investment in
core-telecom businesses, scales data centres and fintech: Bharti Airtel’s recent investment moves point
to a calibrated shift in strategy, with Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Airtel
tightening its focus on businesses that sit close to its core telecom franchise
after an earlier phase of wider diversification at the group level. For much of
the 2000s and early 2010s, Bharti Enterprises had expanded into multiple
unrelated sectors including retail through its joint venture with Walmart,
insurance with AXA, and agri and food processing. Most of these ventures were
eventually exited or scaled down over time, with the group pruning its
portfolio and reallocating capital.
(Financial Express)
Beyond banks; Mythos widens
India Inc’s cyber risk map: Banking may be grabbing the headlines, but the
bigger cyber story is unfolding across corporate India’s wider digital estate.
From power grids and oil pipelines to telecom networks and factory floors,
security experts say Anthropic’s Claude Mythos has sharpened concerns that
AI-powered tools could help attackers identify and exploit weaknesses across
enterprise systems at machine speed. Consulting firm Bain said Mythos should be viewed
less as a standalone threat and more as a marker that sophisticated AI-enabled
attacks have arrived. It warned that many companies have underinvested in
cybersecurity for years, leaving ageing systems and fragmented networks
exposed.
(Financial Express)
Mahindra ranks 25th in top
100 valuable global auto brands: India’s automobile sector is gaining global
presence with eight domestic brands featuring in the world’s top 100, according
to a report by Brand Finance. Mahindra & Mahindra led the pack, rising to
25th globally with a 17 per cent jump in brand value to $3.8 billion. The gain
was driven by its SUV portfolio, improving margins, and push into electric
vehicles. Royal Enfield ranked as the third strongest auto brand worldwide, with
brand value up 30 per cent to $1.2 billion, reflecting sustained global demand
for its premium motorcycles.
(Business Standard)
Nirmala Sitharaman urges
SEBI to strengthen cybersecurity: Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Saturday urged the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
and all regulated market institutions to remain ‘exceptionally vigilant’
against emerging cyber threats. She warned that even a single successful
cyberattack on a major exchange, depository, or clearing corporation could
destabilise markets at a national scale. Speaking at the Sebi’s 38th Foundation
Day, Sitharaman also raised concerns over the rapid spread of fake investment
videos, cloned apps, and deepfake financial promotions on social media. Many
such frauds, she noted, impersonate public figures and trusted institutions to
mislead retail investors.
(Financial Express)
Trai to scale
digital consent system from 11 banks: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(Trai) will begin scaling up its digital consent acquisition (DCA) framework
starting with 11 banks, using them as a model for a wider rollout across the
banking and financial sector. The DCA framework seeks to digitise and
centralise customer consents for commercial communications on a distributed
ledger platform, allowing users to view, modify or revoke permissions that were
earlier taken through paper forms or fragmented systems. “Once onboarded, these
consents become visible to consumers… they can choose to allow, disable, or
modify them. Separately, the regulator has upgraded
its Do Not Disturb (DND) application, now available on Android and iOS, with
multilingual support across 23 languages and simplified reporting of spam
communications.
(Financial Express)
RETRACEMENT
· A
retracement is a technical term used to identify a minor pullback or change in
the direction of a financial instrument, such as a stock or index. Retracements
are temporary in nature and do not indicate a shift in the larger trend.
· The
term, used by technical analysts to analyze the price of securities, refers to
a short-term change in a stock's price relative to an overarching trend. Once a
retracement is over, there should be a continuation of the previous trend.
· Retracements
are not the same as reversals—with the latter, the price of the security must
breach support or resistance levels.
RBI KEY RATES
Repo
Rate: 5.25%
SDF:
5.00%
MSF
/Bank Rate: 5.50%
CRR:
3.00%
SLR:
18.00%
FOREX RATES (RBI REF. RATE)
INR
/ 1 USD : 94.2958
INR
/ 1 GBP : 126.9467
INR
/ 1 EUR : 110.1362
INR
/100 JPY: 59.0200
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
76664.21 (-999.79)
NIFTY:
23897.95 (-275.10)
Bnk NIFTY: 56089.75 (-215.25)
Historical
events: April 27 holds
significant historical milestones, featuring Babur becoming the Delhi Sultan
(1526) and the first telegram between Bombay and Pune (1854) in India, while
globally it marks the independence of Sierra Leone (1961), South Africa's
Freedom Day (1994), and the launch of Apollo 16.
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