UPS Financial News

In every crisis lies an opportunity, it is said. At the very least, today’s hydrocarbon crisis should re-open India’s forlorn debate on pushing oil and gas into a closer market embrace as a sector. Ever since we ran into supply snarls that began with yet another war in West Asia, shock-absorbers have been in focus, along with our import dependence.To be sure, this is no ordinary shock.

With the war in West Asia stretching on, estimates of its economic damage have begun to emerge. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs slashed its outlook on India’s economic growth to 5.9% in 2026 from 7% before the war started. This is substantial, especially given the uncertainty over how long global hydrocarbon markets will stay roiled; the longer they do, the greater the hit.

, traders say, can be chalked up to WTI’s location, far from where the oil is needed in Asia. Its lower price also reflects the higher shipping costs required to get it to Asian buyers, as well as angst that the U.S.

Best stocks to buy today (all buy trades are rates of equity and sell rates are based on F&O)INDIGO: Buy above ₹4155, stop ₹4020 target ₹4400 (Multiday)GRANULES: Buy above ₹615, stop ₹590 target ₹670 (Multiday)LUPIN: Buy above ₹2340, stop ₹2250 target ₹2525 (Multiday)On 24 March 2026, Indian equity markets staged a sharp rebound, supported by positive global cues and reports of potential US–Iran negotiations. The Sensex surged 1,372 points, or 1.89%, to close at 74,068.45, while the Nifty advanced 399.75 points, or 1.78%, to settle at 22,912.40.

small-cap schemes has risen sharply over the past year, reflecting thinning volumes and weaker market depth.The largest fund in the category, Nippon India Small Cap Fund, required 44 days—up 13 days from a year ago—to sell half its portfolio if faced with redemption pressure. The Quant Small Cap Fund saw the steepest increase, with liquidation time rising by 31 days to 87 days, while the HDFC Small Cap Fund and the SBI Small Cap Fund took 71 and 66 days, up 9 and 4 days, respectively.This is when the benchmark BSE Smallcap 250 Index has declined only moderately—6.2% in January, compared with a 10.3% fall in January 2025—suggesting the underlying stress is more structural: lower participation and waning risk appetite are making exits harder, particularly in a downtrend when small caps tend to underperform broader markets.The BSE Sensex declined 3.5% in January, compared with a 1% fall in the same month last year.Exchange data showed India’s overall market capitalization shrank by ₹21.35 trillion from an all-time high of ₹482 trillion at the start of January.

Mint. Mint also saw a copy of the order released on Tuesday.Ashish Brijkishore Singh, a 42-year-old insurance advisor, filed the first information report (FIR) against Gupta and Khandelwal on 16 March after he and two of his aides were duped by a group of six individuals of ₹71.6 lakh.

Can the U.S. pivot from a military deterrent to a more integrated strategy? Write to me at [email protected]. Include your full name and location, and I might publish your response in a coming issue (if you’re reading this in your inbox, you can just hit reply).This is an edition of the WSJ China newsletter, a weekly dispatch of exclusive insights on the contest between the U.S.

West Asia conflict, even as it looks to turn the disruption into an opportunity to gain market share.“In order to fully neutralize the impact of raw material price increase, we have to increase the prices of our products,” said Abhijit Roy, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), in an interview with Mint. “The price increases have happened in the mass premium and luxury segment… the economy segment has been left untouched so far.”The hikes follow a sharp rise in crude oil prices, a key driver of paint raw material costs.

financial health is keeping a close watch on your budget—especially in uncertain times. Start by separating essential expenses such as food, housing, transport and debt repayments from discretionary spending.Once this is clear, identify areas where you can cut back or delay non-essential expenses. Postponing big-ticket spends like a new car or an international holiday can significantly ease financial stress and improve peace of mind.

₹13,000 crore leap into the future of healthcare—shifting from mass-produced generics to cutting-edge “living medicines” grown from cells, alongside advanced chemicals.With blockbuster drug patents set to expire globally, Mint explains how the country plans to tap a $300 billion biologics opportunity.To handle the work of growing medicines from living cells, India plans to build three new national research institutes and upgrade seven existing ones, including major centres in Mohali, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.These centres will focus on training a specialized workforce to manage the high level of scientific skill required. Since making medicines from living organisms is much more difficult than a standard pill, this expertise is essential for everything from laboratory research to high-tech factory management and safety checks.India plans to set up 1,000 testing sites nationwide to rigorously evaluate safety and effectiveness.This is essential because biologics are fundamentally different from traditional drugs.

(DGCA), and the matter was later raised in Parliament.Laser strikes near Indian airports have jumped sharply, rising from 122 cases in 2023 to over 500 in 2025, data tabled in Parliament show. The incidents pose a direct safety risk to pilots and highlight weak enforcement of rules that strictly prohibit such activity that endangers life or safety.As per data, 502 laser-related disruptions were reported across 22 airports in 2025, slightly lower than the 528 incidents recorded in 2024.

New Delhi: India imports around 50% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) requirements from West Asia, and most of it is sourced from Qatar. With the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Ras Laffan industrial City, a large chunk of India's imports are halted. This supply crunch may impact several downstream industries in India including fertilizers and steel.

fertilizer. For plants, nitrogen is a vital nutrient for growth—without it they cannot convert sunlight into energy. If all crops knew how to synthesize nitrogen from the air (which is available freely), there would be no need for urea.

ICE vehicles due to the higher weight of lithium-ion battery packs. “If the battery is heavier than the engine, then what the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) expect is for the chassis and other large BIW (Body in White) components to drive the lightweighting,” Swastid Badve, general manager at Belrise Industries, told Mint in an interview.“And that's why we want to, kind of, focus on high tensile technology to drive lightweighting in all of the other components that we make like a chassis, BIW part and so on and so forth,” he added.BIW parts refer to those components that make up the structure of a vehicle including body side, floor, and roof panels, among others.To drive lightweighting, the company is investing in high tensile technology, which reduces the thickness of steel used to make components.

The demand environment for IT services is stable rather than sharply improving, according to Accenture. Clients continue to prioritize large, strategic transformation programs with spending trends similar to 2025, said the global IT giant, which competes with tier-I Indian technology companies in outsourcing business and is often seen as an indicator of future prospects.Accenture’s managed services (outsourcing) constant currency (CC) revenue increased 5% year-on-year in Q2FY26, outpacing the consulting business, the company told investors in its earnings call for the quarter ended February (Q2FY26)—Accenture follows a September to August financial year.Sequentially, managed services growth moderated with softening deal wins, but the management expects a gradual improvement in H2FY26, supported by the conversion of large deals.

In 2011, a young male graduate earned about ₹21,800 a month; a non-graduate ₹9,000. By 2023, the graduate earned ₹19,573 while the non-graduate ₹10,507. Graduate earnings have fallen in nominal terms over 12 years.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) balance sheet shows that the amount of government paper (including treasury bills) held as on 28 February was ₹21.34 trillion. It was ₹15.58 trillion in March 2025. With RBI’s recently announced open market operations (OMOs), which will probably continue this month, the amount will only increase.

The government has launched a ₹20,000 crore credit guarantee scheme for microfinance institutions to revive lending in the microfinance sector, which has been hit by a prolonged period of stress. The move is aimed at restoring lender confidence and improving credit flow to small borrowers.

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.

India’s fertilizer industry enters 2026 at a critical inflexion point: inventories are at record highs, yet the sector faces volatile global gas prices, West Asia risks, and a structurally subsidy-dependent business model. For investors, that means strong tailwinds on volume visibility but real caveats on margins and policy risk.The immediate backdrop is a whiplash from scarcity in 2025 to abundance going into kharif 2026.

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.