Trends Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s top private-sector banks reported a marked improvement in asset quality in the March quarter, with no visible stress in their loan portfolios despite the US-Israel-Iran war.The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio either declined sequentially or remained stable, highlighting resilient credit performance across segments, largely due to lower slippages and stabilization in microfinance portfolios.While HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, RBL Bank and Yes Bank continued to report sub-1.5% GNPA levels, others, such as IndusInd Bank and IDFC FIRST Bank, saw a moderation in stress over the previous quarter.However, the improvement hides a cautious undertone, with lenders increasingly building buffers and stress-testing their portfolios against adverse global scenarios.Axis Bank has taken the most explicit stance, frontloading provisions to prepare for potential shocks. During the fourth quarter, it created a one-time additional provision of ₹2,001 crore as part of a voluntary enhancement of its provisioning framework.“Based on an assessment of evolving and unpredictable macro and geopolitical uncertainties, the bank created an additional one-time provision…This action is prudent and precautionary in nature and does not reflect deterioration in asset quality,” chief financial officer Puneet Sharma said in the earnings call on 25 April.The bank’s internal stress scenarios assume extreme conditions, including crude oil prices exceeding $150 per barrel, inflation at 7.4%, and a 20% currency depreciation in 2026-27.“Based on some of these test scenarios, we look at which accounts could go into NPL…and based on that, this number is right.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Earlier this week, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that India and South Korea were working towards doubling bilateral trade while reviewing a 16-year-old trade agreement between them.Signed in 2010, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has seen bilateral trade more than double, but with a greater share of gains accruing to South Korea. Speaking to the media at an India-Korea business forum, Goyal said this agreement “has not worked for India” and that a review was being undertaken to bring about “more balanced trade between the two countries”.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Shriram Finance Ltd expects its cost of funds to decline by around 1% over the next 18 months as the non-banking financial company (NBFC) looks to restructure its debt following a capital infusion from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).First announced in December 2025, MUFG completed the acquisition of 20% stake in the NBFC for ₹39,618 crore in April 2026. The non-bank plans to use about 50% of the proceeds to restructure its liabilities and the remaining to push lending in existing segments.The capital infusion also led rating agencies to upgrade the company’s debt rating to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA+’, which is also expected to help reduce funding costs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.After HCL Technologies, Infosys also let down the Street with weaker-than-anticipated FY27 revenue growth guidance, reinforcing concerns about a slowing IT cycle.The stock fell over 5% on Friday, sliding to a new 52-week low of ₹1,167.80. Revenue guidance from large IT firms tends to set the tone for investor expectations for the sector.Geo-political conflicts and AI-led deflation are likely dampeners to growth in FY27, reflected in Infosys’s underwhelming revenue guidance of 1.5%-3.5% CC (1.25–3.25% in organic CC).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: Even as global luxury demand shows signs of cooling, international brands are accelerating their India playbooks, betting the country’s still-nascent but fast-evolving luxury market will deliver long-term growth.Ralph Lauren India and the Lanvin Group are sharpening their strategies to deepen their presence, expand retail footprints, and localize offerings in India as revenue growth slows in more mature markets. Both companies are adopting starkly different approaches in India.Shubhi Sinha, brand head at Ralph Lauren India, said the company will continue expanding its physical presence while tapping demand beyond top metros.“We have about eight stores currently and plan to expand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian equity markets remained under pressure on 23 April, as rising crude oil prices, continued foreign fund outflows and weak Asian cues weighed on investor sentiment.The Sensex fell 852 points to 77,664, while the Nifty slipped 205 points to close at 24,173. Market breadth stayed negative, with most sectoral indices ending in the red.Despite intermittent rebounds, the broader trend remains fragile.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The post-pandemic era saw the Indian retail investor evolve into a formidable market force, but is the tide finally turning? After years of relentless accumulation, an interplay of lofty valuations and geopolitical friction has triggered a pivot toward caution.From turning net sellers for the first time in six years to participation patterns becoming increasingly transient and episodic, Mint decodes the moves of these mom-and-pop investors in fiscal 2026, based on the latest data disclosures by the National Stock Exchange.The cash market segment currently shows a highly skewed, long-tailed participation pattern that challenges the narrative of a stable retail base. Data for fiscal 2026 reveals a sharp concentration of ‘transient’ activity: single-day traders alone account for 24% of the base.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Stock market recap: The Indian equity benchmark indices witnessed a volatile session today, with Nifty 50 ending lower at 24,173.05, shedding 205 points (-0.84%), while Sensex dropped approximately 0.70% to close near 78,000.The market sentiment was largely dampened by escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Brent crude prices surging above $100 per barrel, heightening inflation fears for the import-dependent economy. Sectorally, Nifty Pharma (+2.36%) and Healthcare (+2.11%) were the standout outperformers, providing a defensive cushion amid the broader sell-off.Conversely, Nifty Auto (-2.35%) and PSU Bank (-2.19%) faced significant selling pressure, reflecting caution over rising input costs and credit growth.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With high interest rates, valuation gaps, and global upheavals weighing on traditional mergers and acquisitions (M&A), promoters and institutional investors are turning to the secondary market, driving block and bulk deals to a multi-year high in the January-April period despite bearish sentiment.This year, until 15 April, a total of ₹1.1 trillion changed hands in open-market trades, up 25% from ₹86,810 crore a year ago, according to data from capital markets platform Prime Database.Deven R. Choksey, founder and managing director of boutique fund DRChoksey FinServ, said that investors are using block and bulk deals to realign portfolio weights or pare long‑held positions quickly in a volatile market."What we are seeing is a clear rotation of capital.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Axis Bank is expected to report a steady performance in its March quarter earnings, marked by resilient loan growth, modest margin pressure and improving asset quality trends, six brokerages said. While headline growth remains healthy, the focus of analysts and investors will be on liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and management commentary on the outlook for growth and profitability.Net profit at India’s third-largest private sector lender is expected to fall more than 2% to ₹6,942 crore from a year earlier, according to a poll by Bloomberg.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tech Mahindra Ltd embarked on a turnaround journey two years ago under the leadership of CEO Mohit Joshi, who was appointed in 2023. Cut to FY27 and it is gearing up to meet a crucial milestone: delivering revenue growth above its peers and achieving the last leg of margin improvement.Tech Mahindra has formally concluded the stabilization phase and is pivoting toward an execution-led acceleration phase focused on high-margin growth, management said in the March quarter (Q4FY26) earnings call.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to post steady subscriber additions for the March quarter (Q4FY26), but the absence of tariff hikes and a shorter quarter are likely to cap growth, a trend analysts expect across the sector.Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of Jio Platforms, will report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on 24 April alongside parent Reliance Industries Ltd.“Reliance Jio is expected to add 5 million subscribers q-o-q (quarter-on-quarter) to 520 million, with Arpu (average revenue per user) likely to grow by 1% q-o-q to ₹216/month, led by 5G FWA (fixed wireless access) addition,” brokerage house Centrum said in a note dated 5 April.Arpu, a key industry metric that tracks average revenue earned per user, is seen inching up modestly as operators lean on premiumization rather than price hikes.On a standalone basis, Centrum estimates Jio will report ₹33,529 crore revenue from operations, up 2.4% sequentially and 11.7% year-on-year. Net profit is projected to rise 2.8% quarter-on-quarter and 11% annually to ₹7,371 crore.Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom operator by market share, accounts for the bulk of Jio Platforms’ business.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.HCL Technologies shares plummeted more than 10% on Wednesday after a weak earnings report for the March quarter (Q4FY26) and full year FY26 led to analyst downgrades. The company’s modest revenue guidance for FY27 has raised questions about whether its stock deserves to trade at a valuation that’s in line with or higher than those of rivals such as TCS and Infosys.HCL has forecast revenue growth of 1-4% in constant currency terms, down from its previous year's initial guidance of 2–5%. This outlook is primarily driven by an expected 1.5-4.5% growth in services.Client-specific headwinds in telecom, manufacturing and retail could shave about 50 basis points (bps) off growth, it cautioned.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.More young professionals these days are trading longer vacations for bite-sized weekend hikes and domestic trekking. This trend has picked up immensely across India's busy metros and cities.The government has recognized India's potential to offer world-class trekking and hiking experiences.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: HCL Technologies Ltd’s (HCLTech) weak growth outlook and client-specific challenges triggered a sharp investor selloff a day after its earnings announcement.Shares of the country’s third-largest IT services company fell nearly 9.5% to ₹1,304 on Wednesday, marking their steepest intra-day decline in over a decade, according to a Mint analysis.The reaction puts HCLTech alongside Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Wipro Ltd, whose shares also declined after recent earnings, as all three companies flagged growth pressures with two of them ending the last fiscal year with a revenue decline.HCLTech clocked a 5.95% year-on-year rise in revenue to $14.66 billion for FY26, beating Bloomberg estimates, but net profit fell 4.05% to $1.96 billion. TCS and Wipro, meanwhile, reported revenue declines of 0.54% and 0.32%, underscoring the broader slowdown across large IT services firms.Despite the topline growth, investors focused on HCLTech’s miss on its full-year guidance and a weaker outlook for FY27, which drove the selloff.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On Thursday, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal—two states with sharply different political rhythms—head to the polls. Tamil Nadu will vote in a single phase across all 234 seats, while West Bengal begins its first phase in 152 of 294 constituencies.Both contests will test the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) momentum: it has little presence in Tamil Nadu but poses a serious challenge to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal.Mint explores:West Bengal has a history of extended single-party/alliance rule. The state was governed by the Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), for 34 years before Mamata Banerjee’s rise ended that run in 2011.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s foodgrain stocks have surged well above its buffer norms, strengthening the country’s cushion against supply shocks and global price swings. Government data shows central pool reserves were at 60.48 million tonnes (mt) as on 1 April—nearly three times the mandate—fanning a debate over how best to manage surplus stocks to benefit both farmers and consumers.The latest data marks a strong recovery from 33.2 mt stock in 2023 and 37.65 mt in 2024, when food grain inventories had tightened.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Stock market recap: Equity markets staged a robust recovery on Tuesday, as benchmark indices rebounded from volatility to finish with healthy gains. The Nifty 50 index closed at 24,576.60, up 211.75 points (0.87%), while BSE Sensex mirrored this strength, surging more than 600 points to settle above 79,100. Market sentiment was bolstered by easing crude oil prices and renewed optimism surrounding potential US-Iran diplomatic talks, which helped temper regional geopolitical concerns.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.South Korean tech companies Krafton Inc. and Naver Corp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s plan to use artificial intelligence to reduce a tide of spam is drawing the ire of the nation’s lenders and digital platforms, who warn the effort risks affecting the digital backbone of the economy. Banks and fintech giants claim the automated system could hinder essential customer alerts, from fraud warnings to one-time passwords (OTPs).The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is seeking to keep a crisis at bay, which saw spam complaints triple to 2.5 million last year from 2021, according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha in February by the Department of Telecommunications.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Companies are resorting to staggered price hikes to combat rising input cost inflation and protect margins. The impact of these increases is likely to reflect in June quarter (Q1FY27) earnings, but further hikes cannot be ruled out—especially if crude oil prices remain elevated.The West Asia war has triggered a spike in crude oil prices and LPG shortages.