Manufacturing Financial News

Escorts Kubota, a pure-play tractor manufacturer, reported a 16% jump in sales volume for FY26. Tractors sales are more seasonal than those of other automobiles, so the focus should be on annual numbers.

₹9,000 crore to become the country’s fourth-largest paint company, sees stronger growth potential in industrial coatings than in the decorative segment, Parth Jindal managing director of JSW Paints and chairman of JSW Dulux, the erstwhile AkzoNobel India, told Mint.“We have global R&D capabilities after we acquired Akzo Nobel and particularly in the absence of Birla Opus in the industrial paints space we see less competition,” Jindal said. He added that a potential shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), driven by the West Asia conflict, could further boost demand.The conflict has already started influencing the EV market.

GDP growth in the December quarter and strong manufacturing activity. This placed India among the better-performing economies on domestic indicators and pushed it closer to the top of the table.Currency and equity markets showed some recovery in February compared with the previous few months, but remained among the weaker performers compared to peers.

In a first, India plans to publicly disclose findings from inspections of drug manufacturing units, marking a shift towards greater transparency and quality monitoring, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.According to the proposal being discussed, the country’s apex drugs regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), will publish details of inspected firms and audit recommendations on its website, as India's pharmaceuticals sector faces heightened scrutiny over quality.The plan assumes significance for the country's $50 billion pharmaceutical market in the backdrop of Indian-manufactured cough syrups being linked to over 140 deaths in countries, including Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon, due to ethylene glycol poisoning.The office of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), headed by Rajeev Raghuvanshi, conducts these risk-based inspections (RBI) to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules.“It has been desired that CDSCO may examine the feasibility of displaying brief details of firms inspected under RBI along with the recommendations of the inspection team, after due consideration of legal implications," according to the documents reviewed by Mint. "During such inspections, inspection teams make observations and recommendations based on risk assessment.

war in West Asia rocked global sentiment.Fresh project announcements slipped 13% to ₹44 trillion in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26), according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). It almost erased 16% growth seen in the previous fiscal.The slowdown was primarily driven by a 58% collapse in the government-led capex announcements, which had jumped 54% in the previous year.

The Indian government has tasked the country’s top management institute, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), to find out why its flagship scheme to promote domestic manufacturing in various sectors has not delivered as expected, and suggest remedial measures.According to two government officials aware of the development, the study—to be conducted under the aegis of federal think tank NITI Aayog—will examine 14 production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes that have attracted around ₹2.16 trillion in investments since they were launched during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.PLI schemes offer companies incentives linked to incremental domestic production, rewarding them for increasing output over a base year, rather than providing upfront subsidies.Despite a large outlay, the schemes have seen limited traction—of the nearly ₹1.91 trillion allocated for incentives, only about ₹28,748 crore or 15% had been disbursed by December 2025, according to a 20 February commerce ministry statement.“The study will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the scheme and focus on their impact on production growth, export expansion, job creation, and their role in enhancing India’s position in global supply chains,” the first official cited above said, requesting anonymity, adding that the study will also help understand whether the schemes need expansion or restructuring.Early indicators already point to uneven performance across sectors.Jaijit Bhattacharya, president of the Centre for Domestic Economy Policy (CDEP) Research, said that industries such as mobile phone manufacturing and food processing have done relatively well, largely because they require lower investments and are easier to scale.

Jungle Ventures, a venture capital firm targeting India and Southeast Asia, expects to exit 8–10 portfolio companies over the next 12-18 months, with half of those deals anticipated in India, according to a company executive.“The next 18 months are going to be big in terms of exits for us. The companies have matured, founders have done well,” Arpit Beri managing partner, India at Jungle Ventures, told Mint in an interview.

Mint, the new norms prescribe test methods to measure the presence of dimethylformamide (DMF) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), respectively. Both substances are commonly used in footwear manufacturing and can pose health risks with prolonged exposure.DMF is widely used as a solvent in the production of polyurethane-based synthetic leather and components.

Fertilizers are vital to India’s economy as they underpin the agricultural sector, which financially supports nearly half the population. Companies from the sector ensure food security by providing essential nutrients for crop yields.Fertilizer stocks are currently in the spotlight because the escalating West Asia conflict has triggered a massive supply shock, driving global prices to three-year highs and forcing a strategic shift in India's domestic production.Here are three beaten-down stocks from the fertilizer space that investors can watch.

Tile maker Kajaria Ceramics hopes to clock 7-8% year-on-year volume growth in the March quarter compared with flattish growth in Q3 as operations normalize. The third quarter was marked by weak demand and the company’s unification process to align sales operations, which led to dealer churn and temporary destocking.

₹24,000. They installed it in my flat the same day, and I have been using it regularly.”Since then, a friend bought the same gear on her recommendation and Dua has picked up other Lifelong products, including a duffel bag, a power bank and a pressure cooker.A few months before Dua’s purchase, Delhi-based advertising executive Kritika Sharda bought a ₹1,599 Lifelong power bank on quick commerce platform Blinkit on the eve of a trip to Manali. “I am very impulsive, both in travel and in buying,” said the 28-year-old.

New Delhi: Telecom gear maker Nokia said that supply chain pressures due to the West Asia war, with component shortages such as memory chips, are increasing costs for devices, including wireless access equipment and network infrastructure.“We started seeing the cost creeps happening. As soon as the supply shortage starts, the first thing is the cost changes, and that is what is happening right now,” Vibha Mehra, country manager - designate for India at Nokia, told reporters on Tuesday.Mehra, who will take charge as Nokia’s country manager in India on 1 April, said discussions about the cost increases have also begun with telecom operators.To be sure, memory chip prices had already been increasing before the war, as manufacturing capacity shifted from consumer electronics toward high-margin memory solutions for AI.

Even though the Strait of Hormuz is just about 33km wide at its narrowest point, about 20 million barrels of crude oil and refinery products would pass through it every day before the war in West Asia. This was roughly a quarter of all seaborne oil trade. Since late February, tanker traffic through the strait has fallen sharply, driving up the price of Brent crude and triggering an oil shock.

NEW DELHI: Patients may no longer be forced to buy an entire strip of tablets or capsules when they need only one or a few of them.India’s apex drugs regulator plans to introduce a rule mandating pharmacies to dispense the exact number of tablets and capsules prescribed by allowing the sale of cut strips, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.Many drugs, including antibiotics, are typically sold in strips of 10 or 15 tablets or capsules when patients may require only five tabs. A proposal on dispensing exact prescription quantities of strip-packed medicines was discussed at a meeting chaired by the Drugs Controller General of India on 20 March.This regulatory shift is significant for India's $50 billion pharmaceutical industry and perhaps even more so for the retail pharmacy market, which was valued at $20 billion-27 billion in 2024.

Godrej Enterprises is planning price hikes of 6% to 10% across categories from April, as rising input costs, freight rates, and supply disruptions continue to put pressure on margins, Kamal Nandi, business head (appliances) at Godrej Enterprises Group, told Mint.“Largely, the prices are going up due to the shortage in key raw materials like plastic, which are dependent on crude oil, rupee weakening and shortages in liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and piped natural gas (PNG).”Intex Technologies expects to raise AC prices by around 4-5% and washing machines by about 5-6%, even as it tries to absorb a significant portion of the cost escalation internally to limit the impact on consumers, Keshav Bansal, director at the appliance maker, said.Hisense India is closely monitoring the evolving situation and may consider price hikes of 7-10% in the second week of April, depending on how demand trends and competitive responses unfold, according to chief executive Pankaj Rana.The war-led disruption comes at the start of the crucial summer season, when demand for cooling appliances peaks, forcing companies to balance margin protection with sustaining sales.“We are seeing simultaneous cost increases across plastics, metals and packaging, which is very unusual and is putting pressure across all product categories at once,” Bansal said.While prices typically rise ahead of the season, the increase is far more pronounced this year, creating a dual challenge of rising costs and uncertain consumer demand.Madhur Singhal, managing partner (consumer and internet) at consultancy Praxis Global Alliance, said companies are likely to take upfront price increases rather than staggered hikes through the season.

Mint India Investment Summit held last week.Manufacturing firms, in particular, are increasing R&D spending, but say the absence of validation, at home and abroad, is becoming a key roadblock.“R&D is growing leaps and bounds…but not in the commercial space,” said Pradeep Kumar Kheruka, executive chairman of Borosil Renewables Ltd, at the panel discussion.Kheruka cited Borosil’s attempt to manufacture solar glass without antimony, a toxic chemical, as an example of innovation facing resistance. “We made glass without antimony…We proved that antimony is leaching out from glass, it should be banned and yet the question is how come nobody else has done it?” he said.Despite scientific evidence, the absence of global precedent has slowed domestic adoption.

sulphur demand of about 4 million tonnes. More than three-quarters of this comes from West Asian countries such as the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman, according to latest available World Bank Data for 2023.sulphur is widely used to produce sulphuric acid for fertilizers, and is also a key input in chemicals, textiles manufacturing, and electric vehicle batteries.The state-run engineering company received orders worth ₹76,930 crore from thermal power plants in FY25, its latest annual report said.

After a strong run over the past few years, railway stocks have entered a period of correction, with valuations cooling and execution concerns weighing on sentiment.Yet the broader story remains intact.The Union Budget 2026-27 has announced a record ₹2.93 trillion (tn) allocation toward railways, focused on capacity expansion, modernisation, and network upgrades.This creates a steady pipeline of orders across segments, from rolling stock to EPC and signalling.In this backdrop, we examine five beaten-down railway stocks.#1 Texmaco Rail & EngineeringTexmaco Rail, an Adventz group company, is a leading player in the Indian railway manufacturing. It’s the largest wagon supplier to Indian Railways with a production capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 wagons.It designs and manufactures a diverse range of freight rolling stock for the government, the private sector, and export markets.Also, Texmaco is one of India’s largest exporters of foundry goods.

Venu Srinivasan and its managing director is his son Sudarshan Venu. Gopalan is a director on its board.On Friday, the Sundaram Clayton board accepted Kishan’s resignation and appointed M.

New Delhi: India’s electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firms are in wait-and-watch mode as the West Asia war disrupts the tech component supply chain and pushes commodity prices upward. While Dixon Technologies and Syrma SGS aren’t factoring pricing and supply chain disruptions into account right away, top executives believe the next few quarters will be key for users, brands and shareholders alike.In an interview with Mint, Sunil Vachani, cofounder and executive chairman of Dixon, said that industry bodies are currently evaluating “at a broad industry level how long it will take for capacities of commodities and components, which are destroyed in the war, to come back up.”“The gas supply chain disruption wouldn’t be affecting us, but it will likely hit air conditioner manufacturers directly,” Vachani said.

Mumbai: The cement industry is bracing for a sharp price increase in April as the fallout from the war in West Asia drives up production costs. UltraTech Cement Ltd, India’s largest producer, is set to be the first to increase its price, according to an executive in the know.A price hike by the market leader is likely to trigger similar moves by other cement makers, who are under even greater pressure from higher costs, given their relatively smaller scale.“Nobody will increase cement prices now as they need to meet the year-end targets, but price increase will be seen in the month of April, and cost will be passed on to the consumers,” said the executive quoted above, requesting anonymity, discussing business strategy.Emails sent to UltraTech did not elicit a response till press time.The rise in cement prices is expected to marginally increase construction and infrastructure costs, as cement typically accounts for around 5% of total construction cost, according to Satyadeep Jain, lead analyst for cement, metals, mining and utilities at Ambit Capital.“Cement companies will need ₹20/bag price hike to fully offset cost Inflation vs typical ₹7-8/bag hike in April.