Iran Financial News

FPIs have remained underweight in India for a second straight year, with their ownership in National Stock Exchange-listed companies falling to a 15.5-year low of 16.7% in the December 2025 quarter, from 17.4% a year ago, NSE data showed."De-escalation aside, certain data points pertaining to the conflict seem to have become more severe, resulting in FPIs moving out of risky emerging market (EM) assets to the safety of the dollar," said Swarup Mohanty, chief executive of asset management company Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India).Mohanty said the latest attrition has come on top of the tech and AI impact on India, which had been “playing on the FPIs' mind”. Jyoti Jaipuria, founder of portfolio management services firm Valentis Advisors, attributed the plunge in FPI equity assets to a reduction in earnings visibility due to the country's "particular susceptibility" to oil price shocks, and to slowing flows to EMs specifically and to equities in general, consequent to the conflict.Since the start of the war and the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Brent crude futures have surged 56% to $112.19 a barrel as of Friday, dragging the rupee down 3% to 93.71 against the US dollar on concerns over the impact of high crude prices on India’s current account deficit (CAD).A $10-per-barrel increase in oil prices raises India's CAD as a proportion of its gross domestic product by 0.4%, according to Jaipuria.The surge in crude and the rupee’s fall dragged the benchmark Nifty down 8.2% to 23,114.5 on Friday.

Growing up in Kerala, it was a weekly ritual to spark the firewood and get ready for an oil bath. The weather was warm enough during the week to use the plentiful water from a running tap or well. The firewood had to be kept dry and was allocated pride of place in the outhouse to be brought out in small batches for weekly baths or cooking.

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As reports emerged last week on which ships Iran had let through the Strait of Hormuz, India-bound carriers of LPG among them, one group was no surprise: vessels carrying Iranian crude exports. By data analytics firm Kpler’s estimate, Iran’s oil shipments kept up an average daily pace of 1.3-1.4 million barrels in March amid hostilities with the US and Israel. Most of it was headed for China, reportedly, bought by small refiners paying in Chinese yuan.

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Don ko samajana mushkil hi nahi namumkin bhi hai (Understanding Don is not just difficult, but impossible), quipped market veteran Nilesh Shah, MD of Kotak Mahindra AMC, as conflicting statements on the Iran war emanated from US President Donald Trump over the weekend.Inspired by a dialogue from the 1978 Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don, it encapsulates the uncertainty among India's investors and traders amid frequent changes in President Trump's stance on the conflict's objectives and duration.In a post on Truth Social on Friday, the US President said he was considering ‘winding down’ military operations in the Middle East after getting ‘very close’ to meeting the US' objectives.While investors could see this as a positive sign, they would again be flummoxed by Trump's plan to deploy more troops to the region, explained Shah.Hapless investors and traders have sought to deal with frequent flip-flops preceding Trump's latest comments by initiating an options strategy that enables them to profit from sharp market movements in either direction.Known as a long straddle in options parlance, the strategy aims to profit from a steep move in the Nifty on either side of 23100 by this Monday or Tuesday.This is borne by a 58% rise in open or outstanding positions on the 23100 call and a 79% rise in the 23100 put, per National Stock Exchange (NSE) data as of Friday closing.The market closed at 23114.5 on Friday (20 March), down 8.2% over the past three weeks since the war began.

Five major central banks—the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and the Bank of Japan—met this week to deliver their rate decisions. Four of the five opted to pause and continue with existing policy rates.

New Delhi: India’s top two-wheeler makers are bracing for pressure on margins and demand, as a surge in commodity costs linked to the ongoing West Asia war coincides with the impending withdrawal of electric vehicle (EV) subsidies. The twin blow has led to concerns that the companies, including TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp, may be forced to raise prices, absorb cost pressures, or risk slowing adoption of EVs.Analysts and industry executives note that the removal of subsidies under the government's PM E-Drive scheme from April can lead to price hikes of up to ₹5,000 for electric two wheelers.

One way or the other, an extended West Asia war will impact earnings growth, said Ajay Tyagi, senior executive vice president and head of Equity at UTI Asset Management Co.He believes, “If markets remain flat or correct further, leading to poor two-three year returns, SIP (systematic investment plan) flows may slow down”.Tyagi, who directly manages about ₹2.5 trillion worth of assets, explained that while the structural shift of household savings into markets remains strong, it will see ebbs and flows rather than move in a straight line.He said that SIP inflows, currently around $3 billion, will have their own cycles and are unlikely to keep rising indefinitely.Edited excerpts:For large caps, the correction is mostly over, as they have reached a fair valuation zone. While not yet ‘cheap’, which would mean falling below long-term averages, they are close enough to offer comfort.

L&T, said in a press briefing on Saturday, the company’s first major status update since the US-Israel-Iran war broke out on 28 February.Most of the work suspension has been voluntary, he said, to ensure the safety of the company’s staff. At two sites, customers recommended temporarily halting work, he added.The company has not yet evacuated any staff from the region, but it is also not sending new people there from India at the moment, he said.

In the shadow of the Iran war, with crude hovering around $100 a barrel, the allure of a quick fix for energy inflation is understandable. But intervening directly in financial markets by taking a bearish short position in oil—which the US Treasury says it’s been discussing—is a terrible idea. Selling oil futures would be a desperate ploy, born of panic about rising US gasoline and diesel retail prices ahead of the midterm elections.

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”The back-and-forth was the latest demonstration of one of the dangers that AI technology has posed to global affairs: Not only can AI fakery deceive millions online, but real videos can also be dismissed as AI-generated lies,” a New York Times report said. The phenomenon, known as the “liar’s dividend,” has proliferated during the current West Asia conflict, with thousands of videos leaving watchers unable to tell the difference.As far as can be verified, Netanyahu appears hale and hearty.Meanwhile, Israel assassinated two top Iranians: Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force.The killings underscore a problem highlighted by US President Donald Trump on Friday: there are few leaders left in Iran to negotiate an end to the war.

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From India doubling down on fertilizer imports from non-West Asia sources to the US Federal Reserve decision to pause rates, the leadership crisis at HDFC Bank and youth unemployment in India rising to a four-month high in February—here’s a compilation of this week’s news in numbers.After LPG, fertilizers are emerging as the next major pressure point for India as it navigates the fallout of the West Asia conflict. The government is looking to diversify sourcing by stepping up purchases from countries such as Indonesia, Belarus, Morocco and China, Mint reported.

Mumbai: As war roils the Persian Gulf and the global economy feels its shockwaves, just across the Arabian Sea in Mumbai sits Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd, one of the few winners of a conflict that nobody but a few wanted.India's largest private shipowner, with a fleet of 40 vessels, is benefiting as global ship chartering rates surge amid the war entering its fourth week on Saturday.

New Delhi: As the West Asia conflict drives crude prices above $100 a barrel, India has begun a calibrated pass-through of the shock—raising prices of select fuels while holding the line on retail petrol and diesel.State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have raised industrial diesel prices by around ₹22 per litre and premium petrol by about ₹2 per litre, according to industry sources. However, the prices of regular transport fuels and premium diesel have been kept unchanged.In Delhi, the price of premium petrol has been increased from ₹99.89 per litre to ₹101.89, and the price of industrial diesel, which is procured in bulk, has been increased to ₹109.59 per litre.Earlier this month, prices of domestic cooking gas were raised by about ₹60 and commercial LPG by about ₹115.Addressing the media on the developments in West Asia, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MoPNG), said there has been no increase in prices of regular petrol and the hike is limited to premium variants, which account for just 3-4% of total demand.

State Bank of India has evacuated 64 employees from West Asia to Mumbai over the past few days as the country’s largest lender activated a business continuity plan in response to the escalating war in Iran.SBI obtained approvals from local regulators to temporarily manage its operations in three countries from India, two people aware of the matter said. Only minimal on-ground presence has been maintained in these locations to comply with regulatory requirements.“People have shifted to India after regulators permitted it.

You might have heard that the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz is going to leave poor countries starving. That’s not quite right. The reality may be almost as serious, though—and China will be the victor.The theory stems from the importance of the Persian Gulf in the world’s fertilizer trade.

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Stock market recap: Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and the Nifty 50, slumped more than 3% on Thursday in their worst session since June 2024, dragged down by heavyweight HDFC Bank after the abrupt exit of its chairman and by a surge in crude prices following attacks on West Asian energy facilities.The Nifty 50 fell 3.26% to 23,002.15 points, while the BSE Sensex also lost as much to settle at 74,207.24.On the Sensex, Eternal, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finserv were among the major laggards. HDFC Bank dropped 5.13% after its chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, resigned, citing ethical concerns.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, soared 6.75% to $114.8 per barrel after Iran attacked a key natural gas facility in Qatar as well as two oil refineries in Kuwait.Best stocks to buy today (All Buy trades are rates of Equity & Sell rates are based on F&O)IPCALAB: Buy above ₹1550, stop ₹1500 target ₹1680 (Multiday)GESHIP: Buy above ₹1445, stop ₹1380 target ₹1540 (Multiday)COLPAL: Sell below 1880, stop ₹1940 target ₹1760(Multiday)Indian equity markets suffered a sharp selloff on Thursday, March 19, 2026, as persistent global risk-off sentiment and a surge in crude oil prices triggered broad-based losses.