Three segments quietly winning amid war, oil shocks, and the market bloodbath

Russian oil imports have received a free pass for a month, markets are spooked. And reasonably so.Higher crude means higher landed inflation, a wider current account deficit, and pressure on the rupee – all headwinds for corporate earnings, which had only just started staging a recovery. And markets have reacted accordingly – Nifty 50 index dropped almost 3% last week, matching the declines seen in the midcap and smallcap spaces.However, markets are never one-dimensional.

Even amid the bloodbath, a handful of stocks quietly marched higher. The reason? War creates scarcity and fear, which in turn, create pockets of opportunities. Let’s discuss three of such silver-lining segments.

The demand for defence rises during wars, with geopolitical shocks almost always bullish for defence companies. With governments expected to increase military spending and India’s defence capabilities already capturing the world’s attention during Operation Sindoor, some defence stocks have gained over 15% last week. Bharat Electronics (BEL) is India’s flagship defence electronics manufacturer that dominates the space of radars and communication systems.

Its order book of about ₹73,000 crore provides roughly three years of revenue visibility, even as operating margins have held steady around 30%. HAL’s fighter jets and helicopters are also back in focus with aerospace defence increasingly becoming the epicentre of geopolitical tensions. Bharat Dynamics, Paras Defence, and Zen Technologies are other major Defence names which have re-entered investors’ radar.But risks remain.