Markets ended higher compared to yesterday’s closing point.

Nifty and Sensex stayed in a range for most of the day and rose around 2 pm and closed in green.

Consumer durables stocks and realty stocks rose the most today. Healthcare stocks and media stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets ended mixed on Thursday. Most Asian markets traded mixed on Friday. Most European markets traded in green (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s forex reserves fell $14.88 billion to $765.90 billion for the week ended 18 Sep.

• India recorded the highest ever FDI inflow of $94.53 billion in FY25-26: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. The cumulative inflows between FY14-15 and FY25-26 stood at $843 billion.

• Elevate Campuses’ Rs 2,100 crore IPO was subscribed 1.79 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 1.01 times. The IPO is closed for subscription.

• Moneyview’s Rs 1,091.68 crore IPO was subscribed 6.01 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 5.18 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 28 Sep.

• Orient Cables’ Rs 552 crore IPO was subscribed 1.96 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 2.43 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 29 Sep.

Stock Updates

• SBI: changed the interest-payment date for one of its bond series from Sep 28 to Sep 27 due to a change in the bank working-day calendar.

• Adani Power: NCLT Mumbai approved the merger of Vidarbha Industries Power, which operates a 600 MW thermal plant, into Adani Power.

• JSW Steel: group company JSW One Platforms filed its DRHP with SEBI, BSE and NSE for an IPO.

• SBI Life: received a GST demand of about Rs 1.13 crore relating to alleged excess input tax credit. The company plans to appeal.

• Adani Energy: set up 8 new wholly owned subsidiaries for power generation, transmission, storage and distribution businesses. The combined initial investment is Rs 40 lakh.

• Bank of Baroda: received Rs 1,372.35 crore from the sale of NSE shares through NSE’s IPO.

• One 97 Comm (Paytm): increased its stake in Little Internet Pvt Ltd from 62.53% to 77.42%. It also completed its previously approved Rs 100 crore investment in Paytm Money Ltd.

• LG Electronics: received a customs show-cause notice for about Rs 153.58 crore over alleged underpayment of customs duty on certain imported goods.

Word of the Day

Standard Deviation (SD)

It is a measure of how volatile stocks’ or mutual funds’ returns are.

A lower SD would mean lower deviation or volatility. A higher SD would mean a higher deviation.

Example: when conditions are good, mutual funds returns shoot up by a big margin. But when conditions are not favourable, the returns fall sharply. This would mean its SD is high.

SD is often used to indicate riskiness of stocks and mutual funds.

A high SD does not necessarily mean the stock or mutual fund is a bad performer.

Example: small cap mutual funds almost always have a higher SD than large cap mutual funds. But small cap mutual funds tend to usually give higher returns.

It does show that small cap mutual funds are riskier in nature.

6 Day Course

Theme: how fund managers handle money

Day 5: Friday

Whenever selling pressure increases (more withdrawals by investors than expected), fund managers have to sell against their planning.

This can hamper their plans.

So, they often try to prepare in advance for major inflows and outflows.

Example: investments increase after a period of good performance in the markets, withdrawals increase after poor performance, etc.

So, they keep ready the stocks/bonds/assets they will sell first in case the withdrawals increase.

Similarly, they keep ready a list of stocks/bonds/assets they will buy in case more than expected money comes in.

Featured Question

Q. “In an IPO, how very first listing price is decided or calculated? Why it is different from issue price”

What happens is that a company’s underwriters determine what they think is the right share price for the company.

They publish a price band that they think is the right level for a share.

Investors bid in this band. The issue price therefore is somewhere in this band.

Then, on the day the share is supposed to actually list on the stock markets, orders start being placed during the pre-market hours (9:00 am to 9:45 am in case of IPOs).

Based on the buy/sell order prices in this window, the share price is decided at the market opening time. For IPOs, this happens at 10:00 am.

The price we see at 10:00 am is the listing price.

So, if many investors start placing orders to buy shares at a much higher price than issue price, the listing price can shoot up.

————

Markets ended significantly lower compared to yesterday’s closing point.

A sharp increase in US benchmark yields of over 5% (highest level since 2007) and oil prices rising over $105 a barrel, raised risk of foreign outflows and could have led to the fall.

All sectors’ stocks fell. Private bank stocks and metal stocks fell the most. There were only 3 stocks in the Nifty 50 that rose today. Hence, there are only three stocks in the ‘Top Gainers’ section.

Global markets: US markets fell on Wednesday. Asian markets traded mixed on Thursday. Most European markets traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• SEBI approved multiple decisions in its board meeting, including portfolio management regulations, Unified Common Advertisement Code (CAC), Depository Receipts (DRs) for REITs and InvITs, among others.

• The government reduced customs duty on imported crude edible oils due to high international prices. Crude Sunflower Oil: 10% to nil, Crude Soybean Oil and Crude Palm Oil: 10% to 5%.

• Finished steel production rose 4.1% year-on-year to 68.3 million tonnes between April and August.

• The government extended anti-dumping duty on decor paper imports from China till Mar 2027. The duty imposed in Dec 2021 was $110-$542 per tonne for 5 years.

IPO Corner

• NSE listed at Rs 1,800 on BSE, a premium of 0.84% over its issue price and closed 1.85% higher.

• Varmora Granito’s Rs 1,096.04 crore IPO was subscribed 1.58 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 1.00 time. The IPO closed for subscription.

• Elevate Campuses’ Rs 2,100 crore IPO was subscribed 0.23 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 0.23 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 25 Sep.

• Moneyview’s Rs 1,091.68 crore IPO was subscribed 1.44 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 1.79 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 28 Sep.

Stock Updates

• Maruti Suzuki: started operations at its first 300 kW green-hydrogen pilot plant at Manesar. It is also setting up a 10-tonne-per-day biogas plant and has approved four CBG projects worth Rs 561 crore.

• UltraTech: added 4.6 mtpa of cement capacity, including 3.6 mtpa at a new plant in Andhra Pradesh and 1 mtpa through upgrades at existing plants.

• Power Grid: acquired Barmer HVDC Power Transmission Ltd for Rs 18.98 crore. The project will transmit 6 GW of solar power from Rajasthan to Maharashtra through a roughly 1,000 km line.

• Samvardhana Motherson: completed the previously announced sale of its indirect 26% stake in AES (India) Engineering Ltd to JV partner T-NET Japan.

• Varun Beverages: its Zimbabwe arm signed an exclusive deal with Mondelez to distribute chocolates, biscuits, candy and gum from 1 October, using its existing network.

• Lenskart: subsidiary NESO invested another Rs 2.71 crore in French eyewear brand Le Petit Lunetier, increasing its stake from 31.82% to 34.34%.

• GMR Airports: subsidiary GMR Hospitality won the licence to operate food and beverage outlets at Terminal 3 of Delhi Airport until May 2036, with a possible 10-year extension. The deal is with another GMR Airports subsidiary.

• Nykaa: completed its previously approved acquisition of a 51% stake in Aminu Wellness Pvt Ltd, making Aminu a subsidiary.

Word of the Day

MCLR

MCLR = Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rate

All loans offered by a lender (bank or NBFC) have their interest rates linked to the MCLR.

So, it is something like (MCLR + x)%.

MCLR was in use earlier for all types of loans. But since this number was set by the bank, the banks took time to pass on the benefits of lower interest rates to borrowers.

So, for home, car, education, etc loans, MCLR has been replaced by a newer and faster system called ECLR.

MCLR is still predominantly used in corporate loans and working capital loans.

6 Day Course

Theme: how fund managers handle money

Day 4: Thursday

So far, we have spoken about how fund managers manage inflows from investors, outflows to investors, and storage of money in the mutual fund itself.

Now, let’s talk about how money is deployed into stocks/bonds/etc.

One of the most common ways to buy any asset is to stagger the purchase.

If the fund manager has decided to buy a certain quantity of a stock, the purchase is made over a few days or weeks.

Since they buy large volumes, their buying can push prices up. This method reduces the chance of a price spike caused by the fund’s buying.

Similarly, they also have a staggered approach to selling.

They also keep some cash for opportunistic buying — say a target stock or bond is available at a very attractive level.

Featured Question

Q. “Why is there a capital gains tax when we switch to another mutual fund or when there is an STP. Since the money is not coming to my account, I believe there should be no tax.”

This is because technically speaking, there is no “switch” option.

Whenever you switch, your investments are withdrawn and reinvested.

So for tax purposes, it is counted as withdrawing and reinvesting.

You are correct in arguing that the money never actually gets withdrawn (reaches you the investor). It stays in the same mutual fund.

But as per current tax regulations, this is how it is treated.

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Markets ended higher compared to yesterday’s closing point. Nifty and Sensex opened higher and closed in green.

Metal stocks and FMCG stocks rose the most today. IT stocks and media stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets ended mixed on Tuesday. Most Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday. Most European markets traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• The government signed a contract with Bharat Dynamics worth Rs 810.79 crore for 160 Satellite Smart Anti Airfield Weapons and associated equipment.

• All PSU Banks and regional rural banks will be open on Sunday, 27 Sep ahead of the nationwide bank strike from 28 Sep to 30 Sep.

• The government connected a remote area in South Chhattisgarh through a new rail line that will facilitate iron ore transportation to Bhilai Steel Plant.

IPO Corner

• Varmora Granito’s Rs 1,096.04 crore IPO was subscribed 0.27 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 0.40 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 24 September.

• Elevate Campuses Rs 2,100 crore IPO was subscribed 0.20 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.13 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 25 September.

• SS Retail listed at Rs 624 on NSE, a premium of 47.17% over its issue price and closed 76.60% higher.

• Jindal Supreme (India) Ltd listed at Rs 120 on NSE, a premium of 29.03% over its issue price and closed 35.48% higher.

• Hero Motors listed at Rs 82 on NSE, a discount of 2.38% below its issue price and closed 17.14% higher.

Stock Updates

• Shriram Finance: received GST orders worth around Rs 11.18 crore relating to its erstwhile Shriram City Union Finance business.

• Grasim: invested about Rs 235 crore in subsidiary Aditya Birla Renewables through a preferential share allotment. The investment plan had been announced earlier.

• Samvardhana Motherson: set up MH Supply Chain Ltd in the US through its logistics joint venture with Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. The company will provide logistics and supply-chain services, mainly for the automotive industry.

• Aditya Birla Capital: raised Rs 192 crore through unsecured subordinated NCDs at an 8.0668% interest rate. The bonds will mature in April 2036.

• Bharat Forge: completed its QIP and raised Rs 2,000 crore by issuing about 1.06 crore shares at Rs 1,890 each. The Government of Singapore received about 16.8% of the shares issued in the QIP.

• REC: subsidiary RECPDCL transferred two transmission projects to Power Grid and Ashoka Buildcon for about Rs 18.98 crore and Rs 3.06 crore, respectively.

Word of the Day

Floating Interest Rate

These are loan or deposit interest rates that change with time

The way they work is there is a benchmark index (which changes based on some factors like repo rate set by the RBI, etc).

On top of the benchmark interest rate, a margin is added which is called spread.

So, say a person has taken a home loan at (benchmark + 2)% interest rate.

This means the interest rate applicable on his loan will always move according to the benchmark interest rate + 2%.

Most home, and education loans these days have a floating interest rate.

Personal loans and vehicle loans usually have fixed interest rates — which means the rate does not change and remains fixed for the entire duration of the loan.

6 Day Course

Theme: how fund managers handle money

Day 3: Wednesday

When we talk about cash in mutual funds, the money is not literally kept as cash in a current bank account.

This money is invested in extremely safe options from where money can be withdrawn very fast.

One example is RBI monitored overnight lending options like TREPs.

T-Bills or Treasuring Bills offered by the RBI is another location for storing this cash.

Commercial papers and certificates of deposit are also used.

Some might use other funds like liquid funds and overnight funds to store this cash.

This way, the cash is at least able to earn a small return instead of 0%.

Featured Question

Q. “IPO comes with a price band. Whether any action can be taken against a company by SEBI if the listing price goes down very much below the minimum price for any reason? Can the IPO be kept in any abeyance ?”

Each company is different and we do not know how much its shares should be priced.

So shares are offered in the share markets (via an IPO) and the price is decided based on demand and supply.

When a company goes for an IPO, it is trying to estimate this price.

The price band on offer is generally speaking the price range the company thinks is the right price for its shares.

This is never a 100% sure process. Companies can be inaccurate about their estimates.

After the share lists, supply and demand can change the price.

When a company underestimates its share price, the share price moves up after listing.

When a company overestimates its share price, the share price moves down after listing.

In both cases, the price of the share after listing can easily fall outside the price band during the IPO. There is nothing illegal about it.

This is why investors must be careful while investing in IPOs. They must ensure that they are not investing in a company that is overestimating its share price.

————

Markets ended lower compared to yesterday’s closing point. Both Nifty and Sensex opened in green but started falling around 10:30 am and ended in red.

IT stocks and consumer durable stocks fell the most today. Media stocks and realty stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets rose on Monday. Most Asian markets rose on Tuesday. Most European markets traded mixed (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• SEBI settled adjudication proceedings against 5 Adani group companies after settling with an amount of Rs 1.50 crore over corporate governance issues highlighted in the Hindenburg report.

• NPCI clarified that merchants do not bear the cost of GST on MDR as it will be adjusted against GST payable on sale of goods, clarifying concerns on additional burden on merchants.

• Varmora Granito’s Rs 1,096.04 crore IPO was subscribed 0.11 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.20 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 24 September.

Stock Updates

• NTPC: subsidiary NTPC Green Energy started commercial operations of another 56.7 MW of wind capacity in Gujarat.

• Samvardhana Motherson: holders of its Rs 1,500 crore CCDs can start converting them into shares from 1 Oct. Any remaining CCDs will compulsorily convert by September 2027, increasing the share count.

• Bank of Baroda: set up BOB Pension Fund Management Company Ltd to enter the pension-fund management business. The bank plans to invest about Rs 80.10 crore for an 80.10% stake.

• Dixon Tech: invested Rs 2.55 crore for a 51% stake in newly incorporated Adivistar Electronics India Pvt Ltd, which will manufacture electronic devices including smartphones as an OEM.

• Persistent Systems: its Nagarro acquisition deal has received enough shareholder acceptances to move ahead, and it also plans to delist Nagarro from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Word of the Day

Debentures

It is a type of debt that a company takes from investors.

Companies take money from investors and agree to return it later, usually with interest.

These are called debentures.

Some debentures come with a condition that instead of returning the money in cash, the company can give shares to the investor.

These are called convertible debentures

Some of the main types of debentures are:

- Non-convertible Debentures (NCD): cannot be converted into shares and are repaid in cash

- Compulsorily Convertible Debenture (CCD): must be converted into shares of the company

6 Day Course

Theme: how fund managers handle money

Day 2: Tuesday

Let’s understand withdrawals.

Around most times, mutual fund managers are both receiving money from investors and having to pay back to withdrawing investors.

This balance tips from time to time.

In times when the incoming money and outgoing money is the same, they simply use the incoming money to pay the withdrawers.

When the withdrawals exceed the incoming amounts (like during market corrections, crashes, etc), they have to pay investors from the cash reserve.

If the cash reserve is small, or if the withdrawals are very high, fund managers have to sell assets to create cash for investors.

————

Featured Question

Q. “What's a greenshoe option?”

In a company’s IPO, if the demand for shares is high, a green shoe option lets the underwriter offer extra shares.

The underwriter is the investment bank or other organisation that handles the entire IPO process for the company going for the IPO.

Usually, up to 15% additional shares can be offered using the green shoe option.

Markets ended higher compared to Friday’s closing point. This could be due to a fall in crude oil prices despite ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.

Pharma stocks and realty stocks rose the most today. Metal stocks fell the most, along with IT stocks.

Global markets: US markets ended mixed on Friday. Most Asian markets rose on Monday. Most European markets traded in green(as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s Core Industrial Output rose 4.8% in August, as per provisional data compared to 5.4% in July. Out of the 9 sectors, coal, natural gas, crude oil, and fertilizers fell.

• The India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will come into effect from 20 Oct. It provides duty free access for 100% of Indian exports to New Zealand.

• The government signed a contract worth Rs 586 crore with Accurate Industrial Controls to purchase auxiliary power units for T-72 and T-90 tanks.

• NSE’s Rs 22,562 crore IPO was subscribed 5.70 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 1.37 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

Stock Updates

• NTPC: declared 68.22 MW of its Dahod solar project and 9.45 MW of its Vanki wind project commercially operational.

• ONGC: discovered gas in a deepwater well in the Mahanadi Offshore Basin, around 43 km from Konark. The size and commercial value of the discovery are still being assessed.

• Indian Oil: approved Rs 2,448.70 crore to build a 424.65-km Kochi-Kanyakumari-Thoothukudi natural gas pipeline.

• Canara Bank: raised Rs 2,042 crore through AT1 bonds at an 8.10% interest rate. The base issue was Rs 2,000 crore, with a greenshoe option to raise up to another Rs 2,500 crore if there was enough demand.

• Samvardhana Motherson: subsidiary Samvardhana Motherson Adsys Tech will acquire a 50.1% stake in Rotary Connectors Pvt Ltd, which makes military-grade connectors used in aerospace and defence. The deal values the business at Rs 500.40 crore.

• Shriram Finance: offered to buy back up to $460 million of its overseas bonds from investors. Bonds bought back will be cancelled.

• Billionbrains (Groww): Sequoia Capital Global Growth Fund sold 1.55 crore shares, reducing its holding from 1.57% to 1.32%.

Word of the Day

Basis Points

It is a way of quantifying a change in percentage

1 basis point = 0.01%

Therefore, 100 basis points = 1%

Basis points are also abbreviated as ‘bp’. Sometimes, they are also written as ‘bps’ and even ‘bips’.

When the percentages are changed, it can be confusing.

Example:

The current interest rate is 5%. The interest rate was increased by 0.5%.

Does this mean the interest rate was increased from 5% to 5.5%?

Or does this mean 0.5% of 5%? That is, it went from 5% to 5.025%?

Using basis points clears this up as we can simply say, the interest rate was increased by 50 basis points (5% to 5.5%).

6 Day Course

Theme: how fund managers handle money

Day 1: Monday

The moment we invest in a mutual fund and are allocated units in the mutual fund, our investment has taken place.

The money is effectively invested in the mutual fund’s entire holding. We will get all the benefits of portfolio appreciation.

But, how is the money received by mutual funds handled? What are the strategies used by fund managers?

In this week’s course, we will explore how fund managers handle cash.

One of the first things to notice is that nearly all mutual funds keep some cash.

This can be seen in the mutual funds’ holding.

This could be as small as less than 1% of the total value or even be in double-digit percentages.

The fund manager can keep this portion in cash based on various factors like to pay investors who are withdrawing their money, markets being overvalued, waiting for a good opportunity, etc.

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What If

Sometimes, a stock lists after an IPO and ends up moving well above its issue price.

Then, months or even years later, it falls back close to that original IPO price.

When that happens, it can feel like a second chance to buy. Especially if you remember that the stock had once traded much higher.

But just because a stock is back near its issue price does not necessarily mean it is cheap or that it will go back up.

So we wanted to know what actually happens when investors get this “second chance”.

In today’s What If, we looked at mainboard IPOs from 2015 to 2025 and studied what happened when a stock first rose and came back to the original IPO price. We then checked how those stocks performed after that point.

Read the latest What If here

Markets ended mixed compared to yesterday’s closing point. Sensex ended in red after the CAS, while Nifty ended in green.

Metal stocks and media stocks rose the most today. IT stocks and consumer durable stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets rose on Thursday. Most Asian markets rose on Friday while most European markets traded in red(as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s forex reserves fell $4.92 billion to $780.78 billion for the week ended 11 Sep.

• The government relaxed the existing 15 days’ stockholding limit on sugar for bulk consumers subject to conditions.

• The government approved multiple railway projects; a 38.21 km rail line worth Rs 493 crore near Maharashtra-Telangana border and doubling the 10.86 km Chouk-Karjat section worth Rs 497 crore.

• India’s net direct tax collections rose 12.96% year-on-year to Rs 12.12 lakh crore as of 17 Sep.

• India’s crude oil imports fell 11.17% in August to 19.01 million metric tonnes, from July: Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

• Digital lending platform Social Worth Technologies (Fibe) got SEBI approval for IPO (fresh issue Rs 750 crore and OFS of 4 crore shares).

IPO Corner

• NSE’s Rs 22,562 crore IPO was subscribed 1.16 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 0.72 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 21 September.

• Hero Motors’ Rs 1,000 crore IPO was subscribed 6.66 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 8.23 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

• SS Retail’s Rs 500 crore IPO was subscribed 103.30 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 36.36 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

Stock Updates

• Asian Paints: started production at its new VAE facility (a chemical used to make paints) in Dahej, Gujarat, with an annual capacity of 1.5 lakh tonnes.

• Power Grid: approved raising up to Rs 5,000 crore through unsecured bonds via private placement. The base issue is Rs 1,000 crore with a greenshoe option of Rs 4,000 crore. The bonds will have a 10-year tenor.

• Grasim: its 45%-owned Canadian pulp joint venture (AV Group NB Inc.) will temporarily shut its Nackawic plant around the end of October due to weak market conditions.

• Vedanta: approved issuing up to Rs 3,500 crore of unsecured NCDs through private placement in one or more series.

• Mazagon Dock: signed an MoU to be the main shipyard in a proposed new shipbuilding cluster at Dugarajapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

• Dr Reddy’s: signed an exclusive agreement with Takeda (Japanese pharma company) to market and distribute QDENGA, India’s first approved dengue vaccine, in the private market.

• Persistent Systems: reached the minimum shareholder acceptance needed for its takeover offer for Nagarro.

Word of the Day

Cash Drag

It is the lower performance caused because of holding cash.

As we know, cash gives some of the lowest returns possible.

So the more cash an investor keeps, the lower the returns.

When a portfolio (investment manager, mutual fund, PMS, etc) holds too much cash, the returns can suffer because a big portion of their investment is earning extremely low returns.

Keeping cash is not always a bad strategy. Many investors keep cash when the markets are overvalued for similar reasons.

6 Day Course

Theme: finding correct valuation

Day 5: Friday

Whatever we have discussed so far is still a bit of an ideal scenario.

There are many things that can go wrong.

Example: One common trap is: a company’s earnings might grow 3x in 5 years. But its stock price was already so high, it didn’t give good returns over 5 years.

So, determining if a company’s stock is correctly valued or not depends on its future earnings.

And it also depends on the current share price not being too high compared to the future earnings level.

Also, a lot can go wrong with the earnings itself. A company can end up not earning as much as expected because of various reasons — both within and outside its control.

By the way, great investors don’t always get this right. Even their estimates and valuation-judgements turn out wrong.

It is nearly impossible to be perfect in this.

Some mistakes are okay. Too many mistakes lead to poor returns or losses.

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Featured Question

Q. “As we purchased Mutual Funds schemes and taxed for Capital Gains, do MF portfolio get taxed when they purchase Stocks in their portfolio at the time of redemption or frequent withdrawal?”

Investors have to pay STCG or LTCG tax when withdrawing from a mutual fund.

The same is not true for when a mutual fund buys/sells assets. This alone makes mutual funds more tax efficient.

They still have to pay STT, brokerage, and other relevant charges when transacting stocks or other assets.

Markets closed flat compared to yesterday’s closing point after the US Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75-4%.

Pharma stocks and healthcare stocks rose the most today. Both private bank and PSU Bank stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Wednesday. Most Asian markets traded mixed on Thursday. Most European markets traded in green (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• The government said the possible US tariffs of 100% on Russian oil importing countries, including India, could impact bilateral ties. The bill is yet to be signed into a law.

• The government denied media reports alleging that MDR on UPI payments were introduced under any external influence.

• The government reduced windfall taxes on petrol exports to Rs 0.5 per liter (vs Rs 1.5 earlier); diesel, Rs 20 (vs Rs 25 earlier); ATF, Rs 15 (vs Rs 19 earlier).

• India’s textile sector exports rose 16.10% year-on-year to Rs 29,776 crore in August, from Rs 25,656 crore a year ago.

IPO Corner

• NSE’s Rs 22,562 crore IPO was subscribed 0.43 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.44 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 21 September.

• Hero Motors’ Rs 1,000 crore IPO was subscribed 3.37 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 5.02 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 18 September.

• SS Retail’s Rs 500 crore IPO was subscribed 5.78 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 7.55 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 18 September.

• Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions listed at Rs 330 on NSE, a discount of 2.65% below its issue price and closed 2.68% higher.

• Asset Reconstruction Company (India) listed flat at Rs 139 and closed 1.33% lower.

• Rentomojo listed at Rs 482.45 on NSE, a premium of 19.41% over its issue price and closed 35.15% higher.

• Karamtara Engineering listed at Rs 320 on NSE, a premium of 25.98% over its issue price and closed 38.58% higher.

Stock Updates

• BEL: received additional orders worth Rs 648 crore for defence equipment, cybersecurity solutions, AI software, upgrades, spares and other services.

• Tata Motors: will increase prices of its commercial vehicles by up to 1% from 1 Oct due to higher input costs.

• PNB: set up a $1.5 billion overseas bond programme, which allows it to raise funds in the future.

• Canara Bank: raised Rs 2,042 crore through perpetual Additional Tier-I bonds at an 8.10% interest rate.

• Mazagon Dock: signed an MoU to become the main shipyard in a proposed shipbuilding cluster at Dighi, Maharashtra. The project is expected to involve around Rs 27,000 crore of investment and have an annual capacity of at least 1.2 million gross tonnes.

• Manipal Health: used part of the money raised from its IPO to repay Rs 5,310 crore of debt taken by subsidiary, Manipal Hospitals Pvt Ltd, along with interest and other charges.

• Bharat Forge: opened a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) to raise money from institutional investors. The floor price has been set at Rs 1,947.70 per share and the final fund-raise size has not yet been disclosed.

• Federal Bank: approved a $500 million overseas bond programme. The bank can raise the money in foreign currencies through branches, including GIFT City.

Word of the Day

Repo Rate

It is the interest rate set by the RBI that affects all other interest rates like loan rates, FD rates, etc

It is the rate at which banks borrow money from the RBI.

Hence, it directly affects all rates offered by banks and lenders (loans and deposits).

The RBI adjusts this repo rate to achieve various economic goals (control inflation, encourage economic growth, etc).

6 Day Course

Theme: finding correct valuation

Day 4: Thursday

The challenge is always estimating future earnings.

The best investors are always trying to estimate what a company’s future earnings would be (and therefore its future share price).

Based on that, they’re trying to compare the share price today.

The wider the difference, the greater the returns earned.

But future earnings are not guaranteed.

In fact, sometimes, even the best CEOs fail to estimate their own future earnings — both negatively and positively.

So the best investors try to keep some margin for error. This is done by underestimating the future earnings (taking a worst case scenario).

Even then, there can be unexpected surprises (positive and negative).

Example:

Let’s say the share price is too high compared to its present earnings. Say, PE ratio is 90.

But compared to its potential earnings and share price 5 years from now, it is extremely low.

Such a company might not be seen overvalued — simply because the share price is very cheap compared to its potential value 5 years from today.

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Featured Question

Q. “Why isn't the fed rate a single percentage (like 4%) instead it is a bandwidth (3.75%-4%)”

Fed rates (rates announced by the US Federal Reserve) are presented as a range.

This is because the US Fed does not mandate the rate. It tries to encourage the interest rates towards a certain target range.

Why?

Because in the US, there’s a lot of cash that was printed during the 2008 recession.

This means that many banks have cash reserves to lend.

Because of this, banks don’t necessarily have to borrow from the US Fed. They can borrow from other banks as well at negotiated rates.

So by changing its own rates, the US Fed aims to nudge the interest rates in a certain range.

It is unable to keep it at an exact number because of the higher reserves in the banking system.

Markets closed higher than yesterday’s closing point after two days of fall.

FMCG stocks and PSU bank stocks rose the most today. IT stocks fell the most along with pharma stocks.

Global markets: US markets fell on Tuesday. Most Asian markets rose on Wednesday. Most European markets traded in green (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• The government approved increasing the EPFO wage ceiling to Rs 25,000 per month from Rs 15,000 per month. As a result, an additional 51 lakh employees could come under mandatory coverage.

• The government removed the requirement of certificate of registration for export consignments of up to Rs 3 lakh to lower entry barrier for MSMEs and first time exporters.

IPO Corner

• Hero Motors’ Rs 1,000 crore IPO was subscribed 1.39 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 2.23 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 18 September.

• SS Retail’s Rs 500 crore IPO was subscribed 1.44 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 2.20 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 18 September.

• Prasol Chemicals listed at Rs 610 on NSE, a discount of 9.76% below its issue price and closed 0.74% lower.

• Kanohar Electricals listed at Rs 685 on NSE, a premium of 8.34% over its issue price and closed 19.30% higher.

• Glasswall Systems listed at Rs 194 on NSE, a premium of 6.59% over its issue price and closed 18.68% higher.

Stock Updates

• Reliance: raised Rs 12,000 crore through unsecured NCDs at a 7.47% interest rate. The bonds will mature in September 2031.

• Infosys: expanded its Indore development centre with a new 3.3 lakh sq ft software block. The center will support work in AI, cloud, cybersecurity and software development.

• Samvardhana Motherson: its Indonesian subsidiary received an IDR 14.94 billion (around Rs 8.13 crore) tax penalty relating to the period before Motherson acquired it. It also provided a Rs 75 crore guarantee for another subsidiary, Yutaka Autoparts.

• One 97 Comm (Paytm): from October 15, businesses receiving UPI payments above Rs 2,000 may have to pay a fee of up to 0.4%. Paytm expects this to increase revenue from merchant transactions that were earlier free.

Word of the Day

NPA

It is the part of a bank’s loan that is expected to be a total loss

NPA = Non Performing Asset.

When a borrower makes no EMI payment for 90 days, the lender categorises the loan as an NPA.

NPA is measured in terms of the total loan amount given by the lender.

Example: XYZ Bank’s NPA is 1.8%. This means that of the entire sum of money lent by the bank, 1.8% is not expected to be paid back.

NPA is an important metric for assessing any lender. A lower NPA is considered better.

6 Day Course

Theme: finding correct valuation

Day 3: Wednesday

Yesterday we saw how the PE ratio alone cannot tell us if a stock is overvalued/undervalued/fairly valued.

We also learnt that if a company is growing fast enough, a higher PE ratio can still mean the stock is undervalued.

To account for growth, another ratio was formulated.

PEG Ratio = PE Growth Ratio.

In this case, we take a company’s PE ratio and divide it by the earnings growth over the last 1 year.

A PEG ratio of 1 is considered ideal. More than 1 is considered high, and below 1 is considered low.

Of course different investors approach this method differently.

The challenge with PEG ratio is that it can easily miss companies that are about to turn around.

This makes it especially difficult for companies that operate in cyclical sectors.

————

Featured Question

Q. “If one is not in a position to sell the shares , how to treat the loss for tax purposes ..To make my question clear , I have purchased 100 shares earlier at Rs 50/- . One of my friend also purchased 100 number at 50/- . He is able to find a purchaser for rs 10/-at the time of de listing . His loss is rightfully accounted for ,for tax purpose . I did not find any person and as such the total amount is loss to me. Any benefit would accrue to me in tax angle .”

Long term losses in equity can be offset against long term gains.

This means that if you sell stocks (or equity mutual funds) for a loss, you can use that for tax advantage.

In the above case mentioned by you, the shares are still owned by you. No sale has taken place. You have not booked your loss.

And therefore, you cannot count it as a loss for tax purposes.

Markets closed lower than Friday’s closing point.

The markets fell throughout the day and this may have been mainly due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East (supply of oil from Saudi Arabia has been cut).

Oil prices rose to $108 and US bond yields rose to the highest level since 2007 (5.04%). Such events typically indicate increased expectations of an interest rate hike in the US which could have added to negative sentiments in the market.

All sectors’ stocks fell, except for the IT stocks. Realty stocks and chemical stocks fell the most today.

Global markets: US markets fell on Monday. Most Asian markets fell on Tuesday. Most European markets also traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s unemployment rate fell to a 6 month low of 5.00% in August compared to 5.10% in July.

• The government introduced Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) of 0.4% on person-to-merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 from 15 Oct. The MDR will be capped at Rs 300 for transactions above Rs 75,000. There will be no charges whatsoever on person-to-person UPI transactions.

• India’s trade deficit decreased to $26.86 billion in August compared to $31.98 billion in July.

• Passenger vehicle sales rose 36.5% year-on-year to 4.39 lakh units in August, according to SIAM data.

• The CMs of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana signed the Kishau Multipurpose agreement under which 97,000 hectares of land will be irrigated and hydropower of 1,476 million units will be generated.

Stock Updates

• TCS: partnered with the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange to upgrade its trading systems. It also partnered with Germany’s Aareal Bank to modernise its IT systems using cloud and AI.

• BHEL: approved another Rs 65 crore investment in its 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) with NTPC. It also formed a JV with Titagarh Rail Systems to maintain Vande Bharat Sleeper trains for 35 years.

• Bajaj Holdings: declared an interim dividend of Rs 65 per share. The record date is 21 September.

• Canara Bank: paid Rs 159.80 crore interest on its Rs 2,000 crore AT1 bonds. RBI also allowed it to repay Rs 1,500 crore of AT1 bonds early, meaning the bank can return the money to bond investors and close the bond issue.

• Bharat Forge: entered a strategic aerospace-engine partnership with Pratt & Whitney Canada to study the use of its turboprop engines in DRDO’s indigenous high-altitude UAV programme.

• Aurobindo Pharma: received USFDA approval for a respiratory inhaler, a generic version of Teva’s QVAR used for asthma treatment. The US market is estimated at $301 million.

Word of the Day

NCLT

It is an authority in India that hears disputes and legal proceedings for companies in India

NCLT = National Company Law Tribunal

Matters like mergers, acquisitions, company dissolution, bankruptcy, etc are approved by NCLT.

Disputes like share transfer, shareholder grievances, etc are also handled by them.

If parties are not satisfied with NCLT’s decisions, they can appeal to NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal). If still not satisfied, they can appeal to the Supreme Court.

6 Day Course

Theme: finding correct valuation

Day 2: Tuesday

So yesterday, we discussed PE Ratio.

Let’s go deeper. Why is PE Ratio only the starting point?

If a company is growing fast, its future earnings will be much higher than today even though its earnings might not be that high today.

Seeing the future potential of immense growth, investors are willing to pay a higher price for a company’s share.

Think about this:

Company A:

Profits: Rs 1,000 cr.
Potential profits after 3 years: Rs 7,000 cr.
Current PE Ratio of stock: 25

Company B:

Profits: Rs 1,000 cr.
Potential profits after 3 years: Rs 1,600 cr.
Current PE Ratio of stock: 19

Which of the stocks would make for a better investment?

Company A will grow more. So despite having a higher PE Ratio, its chances of giving higher returns are more.

That is, despite having a higher PE, Company A can be considered not overvalued.

————

What If

When markets become volatile, prices can move sharply in a very short period of time.

And when that happens, the price of the same stock in the cash market and futures market can end up having a difference between them.

The difference between these two prices is called an arbitrage opportunity. And there are mutual funds, called arbitrage funds, that try to earn from these price differences.

Now, when markets become more volatile, these price gaps may also end up changing.

So we wanted to know if arbitrage funds actually earn more when market volatility rises?

In today’s What If, we looked at all the arbitrage funds and India VIX data from 2013 to 2026 to see whether higher volatility really helped arbitrage-fund returns.

Read the latest What If here

Hence, there won’t be any updates on the Nifty 50, Sensex, Top Gainers, and Top Losers sections today.

Global markets: US markets rose on Friday. Most European and Asian markets fell (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s wholesale inflation rose to 9.92% year-on-year in August compared to 9.78% in July. India’s retail inflation rose to 4.82% in August compared to 4.45% in July.

• The total revenue from allocated commercial coal mines was Rs 3,090 crore in FY25-26. The government expects annual revenue of around Rs 47,500 crore from the 147 coal blocks since 2020 across 9 states.

• SEBI issued a consultation paper, proposing changes to the Closing Auction Session (CAS), market timings and settlement rules for derivative contracts. It has invited public comments until 3 October.

Stock Updates

• JSW Steel: NCLT will hear the proposed merger of Piombino Steel into JSW Steel on 24 September. The merger has not yet been approved.

• NTPC: subsidiary NTPC Green Energy started commercial operations of another 6.3 MW of its Vanki wind project in Gujarat. NTPC Group’s total commercial capacity has now crossed 90,000 MW.

• Grasim: Customs authorities searched Grasim’s Cellulosic Staple Fibre plant in Nagda, Madhya Pradesh, over import-export transactions.

• Solar Industries: subsidiary Solar SA Investments agreed to acquire 100% of South Africa-listed Omnia Holdings for about $1.36 billion (Rs 12,951 crore) in cash. Omnia operates across 23 countries in explosives, mining solutions, chemicals and agriculture.

• Lenskart: invested about Rs 8 crore to acquire another 1.8% stake in smart-glasses company Ajna, increasing its holding from 7.21% to 9.01%.

• Lloyds Metals and Energy: subsidiary Lloyds Global Resources set up a new company called Vector Asset Holdings Ltd in the Isle of Man for holding and financing international investments.

• Aurobindo Pharma: subsidiary A1 Biochem Labs invested $1 million in its newly set up US subsidiary, A1 Biochem USA, which will provide contract research and development services.

Word of the Day

Frothy

When the price of something reaches a level where it gets hard to justify, it is said to be frothy. In short, overvalued

A common use case is when the stock markets as a whole become extremely overvalued.

It can be used in case of individual share prices, or even prices of other assets and commodities.

Example: this company’s earnings per share is only Rs 3 but its share price has reached frothy levels at Rs 400.

Overvaluation is a subjective matter. There’s no hard formula for it. So not everyone will agree on the ‘frothiness’ of prices.

6 Day Course

Theme: finding correct valuation

Day 1: Monday

We have heard many times that certain stocks are overvalued or undervalued or fairly valued.

This week, we’ll try to decode this better.

The first and simplest method used by most investors is to use PE Ratio (Price to Earnings Ratio).

In this we are comparing how much a company earns versus how much it costs.

So the ratio is basically comparing the price of one share vs the earnings per share.

This is a basic method and can serve well in many cases.

Usually, investors have a certain number in mind for a stock being undervalued, overvalued, or fairly valued.

Example: one investor might feel that stocks with a PE ratio below 18 are undervalued, 19-22 are fairly valued, and anything above that is overvalued.

But the PE Ratio is only the starting point.

Depending only on this ratio may mean investors miss out on other signals that might tell us more about a stock’s valuation.

————

Featured Question

Q. “During delisting what happens to investment, is it a loss or will company provide?”

It depends on how the delisting is happening.

If it is voluntary (company is doing it willingly), they offer a buyback to existing investors.

In short, they buy shares from the existing investor.

Some companies are delisted when they are acquired or merged.

In such cases, they might do a buyback of shares or might provide shares of the new company instead. Sometimes, they do a mix of both.

If the delisting happens for regulatory reasons, the shares stop trading, but investors still own them.

In such cases, they can buy/sell those shares Over the Counter (OTC), which means investors will have to find the person to trade with individually.

The stock exchange will not do it for the investor.

This is difficult and requires work. Many investors tend to treat it as a total loss case.

In case of companies being delisted because of bankruptcy, the share price falls hard.

In such cases also, the shares can be traded OTC but the share price is so low, many investors don’t bother with it and treat it as a full loss.

Or, they may sell it if they find buyers but still the money received in such cases is extremely minimal.

Markets closed lower compared to yesterday’s closing point.

Increasing expectations of an interest rate hike due to rising inflation in the US, and high oil prices could have led to the fall.

Realty stocks and metal stocks fell the most today. Private bank stocks and media stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Thursday. Most Asian markets fell on Friday. Most European markets traded in green (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s forex reserves rose $44.90 billion to a record high of $785.70 billion for the week ended 4 September.

• The government notified that the Banker’s Books Evidence Act, which modernises the legal framework for the use of banking records as evidence, will be effective from 1 October.

IPO Corner

• Rentomojo Limited was subscribed 72.88 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 15.59 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

• Karamtara Engineering was subscribed 62.63 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 13.26 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

• Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions was subscribed 1.42 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 2.19 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

• Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited was subscribed 20.10 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 3.39 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

Stock Updates

• Adani Ports: SEBI settled regulatory proceedings involving MD Karan Adani and former CFO B. Ravi. They paid Rs 13.65 lakh each to settle the matter without admitting or denying the findings.

• BSE: invested Rs 9.28 crore in India International Bullion Holding IFSC Ltd, increasing its direct stake from 3.33% to 5.54%. BSE plans to further increase its holding to 20%.

• Aurobindo Pharma: the USFDA completed an inspection of subsidiary Apitoria Pharma’s API facility in Andhra Pradesh with zero observations.

• JSW Infrastructure: subsidiary JSW Port Logistics received approval to set up the first Inland Container Depot in the Ballari region of Karnataka. The facility will handle import and export cargo and is part of its planned logistics park at Kudathini.

Word of the Day

Range Bound

It is when the price stays within a certain upper and lower limit

Often, this phrase is used to describe a stock price or an index.

When the price does not go beyond an upper limit and a lower limit but keeps moving within a narrow range for a long time, it is said to be range bound.

Range bound stocks or indices are not seen as good investments since they do not generate returns.

6 Day Course

Theme: mutual fund ratings

Day 4: Thursday

It is always a good idea to look at multiple ratings from different agencies when analysing mutual funds.

That can often give a better idea and remove some biases of individual rating agencies.

Besides, an investor cannot depend only on ratings to choose mutual funds.

Yes, that increases workload, but it is something mutual fund investors must learn anyway.

Factors like fund manager quality, holdings quality, diversification, concentration, etc need to be looked at individually.

Often, a new investor will not be able to make these decisions immediately. It can take some time.

Thus, it is a good idea to use an informed relative’s or friend’s help or even an advisor’s help — while you learn and skill yourself.

————

Featured Question

Q. “In PMS, does AMC have to deploy whole 50 lakhs or they can keep some cash? if market drops and stock holdings drop below 50 lakhs then what happens?”

When you invest in any PMS, you must invest at least Rs 50 lakh.

The fund manager may or may not invest the entire amount in stocks immediately.

Example: if the fund manager believes that the markets are overvalued, more money might be kept in cash form or in liquid funds.

The regulations require a minimum investment of Rs 50 lakh in PMS at the time of investment.

If after investment the value dips below Rs 50 lakh, the investor does not need to invest extra to make it reach Rs 50 lakh.

Markets closed higher compared to yesterday’s closing point, after three continuous days of fall.

Media stocks and PSU bank stocks rose the most today. Metal stocks and pharma stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Wednesday. Most Asian markets fell on Thursday. European markets traded mixed (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• Equity mutual fund inflows rose 18.75% to Rs 29,328.62 crore in August. Debt funds saw an outflow of Rs 8,127 crore in August vs an inflow of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in July.

IPO Corner

• Rentomojo Limited was subscribed 4.71 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 4.19 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 Sept.

• Kanohar Electricals was subscribed 90.59 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 20.51 times. The IPO is closed for subscription.

• Karamtara Engineering was subscribed 3.61 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 3.28 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 Sept.

• Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions was subscribed 0.31 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 1.22 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 Sept.

• Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited was subscribed 0.87 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 1.24 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 Sept.

• Prasol Chemicals was subscribed 3.30 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 1.70 times. The IPO is closed for subscription.

Stock Updates

• Titan: repaid Rs 1,000 crore of commercial paper after it matured on 10 September. The borrowing was originally raised in June.

• Nestle India: won part of its GST appeal for FY2017-20 but must still pay Rs 1.30 crore plus interest and a penalty of about Rs 13 lakh.

• Indian Bank: plans to sell 17.91% of its holding in NSE through the offer for sale in NSE’s proposed IPO. The sale is subject to approvals.

• IDBI Bank: said it cannot confirm or deny reports that Fairfax may sell its IIFL Finance stake to fund a bid for IDBI Bank. The bank said it has no role in the reported matter.

Word of the Day

Delisting

It is the process by which a company removes itself from the share markets.

Post delisting, a company’s shares are no longer available for buying/selling on the exchange.

Delisting can be voluntary — this is if the company wants to delist itself. It offers to buy all existing shares for a certain price.

Delisting can also be involuntary — it can be delisted due to regulatory non-compliance, bankruptcy, etc. In this case, the shares continue to exist but are traded only OTC (Over The Counter).

6 Day Course

Theme: mutual fund ratings

Day 4: Thursday

Some mutual funds have a proven track record of being poor performers.

Their returns have been low for long periods, through different market cycles.

Such mutual funds are often rated extremely poorly.

Mutual fund ratings are great for filtering these out. In other words, they are very useful in helping an investor decide where not to invest.

But the opposite is not true.

Practically speaking, many good funds’ ratings change from okay-ish to very good and vice versa within a few years depending on their short-term performance.

As discussed in an earlier edition of this digest, such a rating is not useful.

Another method that may be useful to investors is to check how ratings of certain mutual funds change over time.

Such a method can ensure we know which mutual funds remain poorly rated for long periods.

————

Featured Question

Q. “What happens to the stocks during a Market crash? If everyone is panic selling then someone has to buy these stocks. Without anyone buying the Market shouldn’t crash. Please explain what exactly happens during a Market Crash?”

If there are no buyers and only sellers, no trade takes place.

In such a situation, a crash is not possible since the price would not change at all.

During a crash, what happens is that the number of sellers is very high, and the buyers are very low in number.

We all know how price-bidding works.

If you are desperate to buy something, you tend to keep bidding for a higher price.

During a crash, the reverse of that happens.

As sellers are panicking, they are willing to sell the shares at a lower price than others — leading to a continuous fall in share price.

The buyers in this case keep getting a lower price to buy shares at.

Why is the buyer buying?

In the stock markets, all kinds of investors exist. They all have different strategies and goals.

So clearly, the buyers would have their own reason to buy even during a crash.

Maybe they think the crash is temporary and unwarranted, and that they can get the shares for cheap. Maybe they expect a short turnaround in which they will sell. There can be hundreds of reasons for such buying.

Markets closed lower compared to yesterday’s closing point.

The fall could be due to the same reasons as yesterday, which is a rise in crude oil prices. In fact, today the Brent crude crossed the $100 mark as tensions between the US and Iran continued.

IT stocks and realty stocks fell the most today. Only metal stocks rose.

Global markets: US markets fell on Tuesday. Most Asian markets traded mixed on Wednesday. European markets traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• The government approved 3 multitracking projects worth Rs 10,783 crore across 14 districts in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

• The government approved 5 multitracking projects worth Rs 10,021 crore in 17 districts across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.

IPO Corner

• Rentomojo Limited was subscribed 1.42 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 1.54 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 September.

• Kanohar Electricals was subscribed 10.22 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 8.49 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 10 September.

• Karamtara Engineering was subscribed 1.27 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 1.07 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 September.

• Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions was subscribed 0.17 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.73 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 September.

• Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited was subscribed 0.38 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.56 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 11 September.

• Prasol Chemicals was subscribed 0.72 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 1.14 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 10 September.

Stock Updates

• ICICI Bank: RBI allowed its subsidiary ICICI Prudential AMC to acquire up to 9.95% each in CSB Bank, DCB Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.

• L&T: won an offshore order (Rs 2,500 crore - 5,000 crore) from ONGC for projects off India’s west coast. It also raised Rs 500 crore through tokenised NCDs at a 7.40% coupon rate, maturing in September 2029.

• Sun Pharma: set up Sun Pharma Global Treasury Centre IFSC Ltd in GIFT City with an initial capital of about Rs 9.5 crore to handle treasury and funding activities.

• Adani Enterprises: airport subsidiary Adani Airport Holdings will raise Rs 9,825 crore from investors, including Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek and BlackRock.

• Adani Ports: won a 30-year contract to develop and operate 2 dry-bulk berths at Paradip Port in Odisha.

• Hindustan Zinc: signed a 6-year agreement with MFL India to use 30 electric trucks for transporting zinc and lead concentrate in Rajasthan.

• Shriram Finance: raised Rs 2,220 crore through secured NCDs at a 7.80% coupon.

• Adani Energy Solutions: signed a 25-year agreement to supply 2,500 MW of round-the-clock power to MSEDCL.

• CG Power: received a stay on an income-tax demand of about Rs 215.59 crore until its appeal is decided.

• Muthoot Finance: invested Rs 31.80 crore in Asia Asset Finance, increasing its stake to 72.92%.

• Aditya Birla Capital: raised Rs 2,335 crore through four tranches of secured NCDs on a private placement.

• REC: subsidiary RECPDCL transferred Musalgaon Power Transmission Ltd to Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company for about Rs 2.21 crore.

Word of the Day

Holding Company

It is a company meant to own shares in other companies

Most holding companies do not produce any goods or provide any services.

They act as a parent company that is used to own stakes or shares in other companies.

Holding companies often hold a majority of the shares in their child companies.

But this is not always the case. They may also be a minority shareholder of some companies.

6 Day Course

Theme: mutual fund ratings

Day 3: Wednesday

One of the biggest flaws of mutual fund ratings is that they are almost always backward looking.

Mutual fund ratings are based on the past performance of mutual funds.

Many of them are greatly influenced by recent short term returns (last 6 months or 1 years’ returns).

All mutual funds have different kinds of holdings. This means that they perform very well during certain periods and less so during certain other periods.

Many mutual fund rating agencies rate these mutual funds highly after this good performance period. This does not mean that the mutual fund will continue to perform the same way in the future as well.

It may, but it may also not continue that way.

Similarly, even if a good mutual fund is going through a difficult period where its performance is lagging, many mutual fund ratings will rate it lower.

For this reason, mutual fund ratings can seem a little less useful.

————

Featured Question

Q. “what if everyone want to sell the stocks, but no one wants to buy them at any cost. what happened to that shares?”

No trade will take place.

For trades to take place, there has to be a buyer and seller.

In the case mentioned above, there is no buyer, only seller. So, the seller will be unable to sell.

Those shares will remain with the current owner.

This state is described as the stock being illiquid.

The same logic applies in reverse while buying shares in a bulk deal.

What you are describing might be a pattern you have seen in some very specific case.

It is hard to say what the right thing to do in such a case might be.

Markets closed lower compared to yesterday’s closing point.

The fall may have been due to the ongoing US-Iran conflict which caused Brent Crude oil to rise close to $100 mark.

Private bank stocks and oil & gas stocks fell the most today. Media stocks and pharma stocks rose the most. The broader market ended in green.

Global markets: US markets were closed on Monday for Labor Day. Most Asian markets fell on Tuesday. European markets showed a mixed trend (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• The government approved Strategic Investment Plans (SIPs) worth Rs 735.70 crore for ITI clusters in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana.

• SEBI removed the regulatory requirement for FPIs investing in government securities to provide investor group details. This follows a recent RBI circular that removed concentration limit requirements.

• Alternative fuel vehicle sales overtook petrol sales in August, as per FADA. The combined retail sales of alternative fuels for passenger vehicles, including CNG, hybrids and EVs rose to 41.95% against petrol’s 40.85%.

• Kanohar Electricals was subscribed 2.70 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 3.30 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 10 September.

• Prasol Chemicals was subscribed 0.41 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.69 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 10 September.

Stock Updates

• TCS: won a Rs 122 crore Odisha government contract to build an AI-enabled digital-governance platform.

• Bajaj Finance: raised Rs 2,050 crore by issuing secured NCDs at an 8.07% coupon rate.

• HCLTech: opened a 40,000 sq ft semiconductor lab in Bengaluru with an Rs 185 crore investment.

• HAL: received in-principle approval from the Defence Acquisition Council for procurement of Advanced Light Helicopters for the Indian Army and Air Force.

• Bank of Baroda: plans to sell 35% of its holding in NSE through the offer for sale in NSE’s proposed IPO.

• DMart: raised Rs 300 crore through 90-day commercial paper at 6.40% coupon.

• Tata Capital: raised Rs 3,000 crore through secured NCDs at an 8.05% coupon.

• GMR Airports: plans to issue up to Rs 1,500 crore of unsecured bonds at a 5% interest rate to repay Rs 1,500 crore of existing bonds.

• Mankind Pharma: shareholders approved the voluntary liquidation of subsidiary Bharat Serums and Vaccines, subject to creditor approval.

• Max Healthcare: invested Rs 87.87 crore in Kalinga Hospital through a rights issue, increasing its stake from about 58.28% to 66.15%.

• REC: issued India’s first pilot tokenised corporate bonds under SEBI’s regulatory sandbox, raising Rs 500 crore at a 7.30% coupon for 21 months.

Word of the Day

Exchange

An exchange is a marketplace for buyers and sellers to meet each other

Exchanges are designed around the product categories being bought/sold.

We have two active stock exchanges in India: BSE and NSE.

Likewise, there are exchanges for commodities like MCX and NCDEX.

6 Day Course

Theme: strategies of long-term investing

Day 2: Tuesday

Some factors rating agencies use to judge mutual funds:

Returns: this is no surprise. Agencies look at past returns over different periods and compare the returns against the benchmark returns.

Risk adjusted returns also fall under this — how well a mutual fund performs factoring in the risk it took.

Consistency: many agencies reward consistency and stability highly.

Fund manager: many agencies will also have a way of judging the fund manager’s track record.

Asset quality: they attempt to determine how ‘high quality’ a mutual funds’ holdings are.

Diversification vs concentration: different agencies handle this differently. The general belief is that neither too much diversification nor too much concentration is good.

Cost: this refers to the expense ratio of management fees charged by the mutual fund. Higher charges usually attract lower ratings.

There are many other factors different agencies also track. The above are some of the main points tracked by most of them.

————

What If

Earlier this year, the US-Iran conflict made oil prices rise up.

This became a problem for India because we import almost 80% of the oil we use.

When oil gets expensive, fuel costs go up, inflation rises and the overall economy can be affected. If the economy is affected, companies can suffer too.

So, as an investor, it is natural to wonder whether you should stop investing or exit your portfolio during such periods.

But is selling during an oil shock actually the smart thing to do?

In today’s What If, we looked at 8 major oil shocks over the past 25 years to understand if panic selling actually protected investors’ portfolios from the heavy losses and how the sectors believed to be ‘safe’ and ‘vulnerable’ actually performed during multiple oil crises.

Read the latest What If here

Markets closed lower compared to Friday’s closing point.

Nifty 50 fell throughout the day, and the major reason for the fall in markets could have been due to rising oil prices, and a fall in IT stocks.

Media stocks and IT stocks fell the most today. Pharma stocks and healthcare stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Friday. Most Asian markets rose on Monday. European markets showed a mixed trend (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• NSE changes pre-open session rules, including new time windows for market and limit orders, separate period of order matching and opening price determination came into effect on 7 September.

• SEBI’s revised framework for ETF trading came into effect on 7 September. The framework revised base price norms, introduced dynamic price bands based on underlying assets, among others.

• Purple Style Labs listed at Rs 535 on NSE, a discount of 6.96% over its issue price and closed 1.13% lower.

Stock Updates

• ICICI Bank: RBI approved LIC acquiring an aggregate holding of up to 9.99% in ICICI Bank within one year.

• TCS: subsidiary HyperVault secured 264 acres in Hyderabad to build an AI data centre campus with a capacity of up to 1 GW. HyperVault and its partners will be investing up to Rs 70,000 crore.

• Maruti Suzuki: will increase prices of selected models by up to Rs 20,000 in September due to higher input costs and inflation.

• Adani Power: was selected to acquire GVK Energy, which owns a 330 MW hydroelectric plant in Uttarakhand, through its subsidiary, Alaknanda Hydro Power Company Ltd, subject to approvals.

• Nykaa: completed the acquisition of an additional 24.2% stake in Earth Rhythm, which had been announced earlier in May.

• Reliance: step-down subsidiary Roptonal Ltd was dissolved in Cyprus.

Word of the Day

Churn

It is the rate of change or replacement of assets being held

Say investor A owns 10 stocks and by the end of the year, he has sold 3 of them and bought 3 other new ones.

Investor B has 10 stocks and in a year’s time has sold 9 of his stocks and bought 9 new stocks.

In this case, we will say investor B’s investment portfolio had more churn than investor A.

Churn can also be used to describe change in other aspects, such as customer churn (referring to how loyal a company’s customers are), employee churn (how long a company’s employees stay in the company, etc).

6 Day Course

Theme: mutual fund ratings

Day 1: Monday

Many mutual fund investing platforms rate mutual funds. Usually, the ratings go from 1 to 5 stars.

In this week’s course, we will try to learn more about mutual fund ratings.

The first thing to understand about these ratings is that there is no single standard mutual fund rating.

There are many different bodies, organisations, advisors, etc who have their own ratings for mutual funds.

These ratings can be similar but may not be necessarily the same.

The reason for this is that each mutual fund rating system uses their own systems to judge mutual funds. It is not a standard method.

Some ratings are purely formulaic. It is calculated based on clearly defined numbers and formulas.

Some ratings are also partly formulaic and partly subjective.

Such ratings depend on subjective factors and are also opinion based.

The formulas and opinions can vary and therefore, the ratings vary too.

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Featured Question

Q. “What is Bulk deal? I notice every now & then ‘Breaking news’ ‘Bulk deal happened’ It does not say who sold or who buy…. Is my understanding correct below: In the Bulk deal, first someone will ‘sell’ stock in bulk, then stock price will fall suddenly… then after sometime in that hour someone buy in bulk, then stock price regains its last value before the deal began. In such cases, when stock price drops then ‘is it wise to buy before bulk deal completes’”

Whenever a large number of a company’s listed shares are traded on the stock markets, it must be reported and publicly announced.

The limit for this is 0.5% or more of the company’s total listed shares.

Such deals are called bulk deals.

Because these deals are usually very large in nature, they are mostly done by institutional investors like mutual funds, FIIs, promoters, etc.

This is done during regular market trading hours.

The name of the party doing the trade is also made public, along with the date, buy/sell, number of shares, and the average price of the trade.

When a very large number of shares are sold in the markets, it can cause the share price to fall a bit or even a lot.

This is not necessarily always the case.

If there are many willing buyers in the markets, the price could stay or even climb despite a bulk deal.

If a stock price falls after a bulk deal, there is no guarantee that it will climb back up in a short while or even longer than that.

The same logic applies in reverse while buying shares in a bulk deal.

What you are describing might be a pattern you have seen in some very specific case.

It is hard to say what the right thing to do in such a case might be.

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Markets closed higher compared to yesterday’s closing point.

The rise after 4 days of continuous selling in the markets may have been due to positive global sentiment after the US Federal Reserve Governor’s comments on interest rates.

Metal stocks and cement stocks rose the most today. Realty stocks and healthcare stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets rose on Thursday. Most Asian markets rose on Friday. European markets showed a mixed trend (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s forex reserves rose $11.47 billion to $740.80 billion in the week ended 28 August.

• National Stock Exchange (NSE) along with 3 other companies received SEBI approval for their IPOs.

• SEBI will review the methodology used to determine settlement price for derivative contracts in the Closing Auction Session (CAS), following feedback from market participants.

• ESDS Software Solution listed at Rs 757, a premium of 76.46% over its issue price and closed 111.75% higher.

Stock Updates

• ICICI Bank: issued $500 million of bonds in international markets under the bank’s $7.5 billion Global Medium Term Note Programme.

• Adani Ports: is setting up a dedicated empty-container yard at Mundra Port for storage, maintenance, inspection and movement of empty containers.

• UltraTech: launched its Ultravolt wires and cables brand following an investment of about Rs 1,800 crore.

• Pidilite: step-down wholly owned subsidiary Nina Percept (Bangladesh) Pvt Ltd was voluntarily liquidated.

• CG Power: began production at its new transformer plant in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh. The Rs 792 crore expansion will raise the transformer capacity by 60%.

• Canara Bank: decided to repay Rs 4,000 crore of bonds between October 2026 and March 2027, subject to approvals.

• Cipla: secured exclusive US rights to sell Qilu Pharmaceutical’s proposed pembrolizumab biosimilar (a version of cancer drug Keytruda) in the US, subject to regulatory approval.

• Lupin: received USFDA approval for Modafinil tablets, used to treat excessive sleepiness. The original drug had estimated annual US sales of $70.7 million.

Word of the Day

MSCI Global Index

It is an index maintained by MSCI that is made up of large and mid cap stocks

This index is “global” in nature because these stocks are from over 45 countries, including developed and developing countries.

Index funds that are based on this index invest according to it.

When a stock gets added to the MSCI global index, money flows into the stock thanks to investments from index funds and ETFs.

The opposite happens when a stock gets removed from the index.

6 Day Course

Theme: quarterly reports

Day 5: Friday

Contrarian investing: this strategy involves taking a bet against the commonly held beliefs in the markets.

For example, let’s say there’s a sector or company that is being avoided by most investors, a contrarian investor might invest in that stock or sector.

Such investors do not blindly go against a commonly held belief.

They do their research and validate their beliefs (that the stock or sector will turn around).

Small, micro-cap investing: many investors specialise in investing in very small companies.

This may involve following a very different approach from that of choosing larger stocks.

For example, they might be more tolerant of debt, volatility, lack of consistency, lower transparency, etc.

This style of investing is definitely more risky.

We have covered some of the main investment strategies. There are a few more that are less commonly used.

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Featured Question

Q. “At every rate and every company a buyer and seller are available, how and why it’s possible?”

You are probably looking at a big company’s stock.

What you are describing is not always true for all stocks.

In the case of heavily traded large companies’ stocks, there are many buyers and sellers with different goals and beliefs.

Thus, the chance of finding a buyer/seller that matches your price requirements is high.

In case of smaller stocks, the number of buyers and sellers is lower. The chance of getting a perfect trade quickly is therefore lower.

In fact, during difficult periods, buyers/sellers can vanish, also leading to trades not taking place.

This state is described as the stock being illiquid.

It happens with smaller stocks more often. It is extremely rare in case of large stocks but not impossible.

Markets closed lower compared to yesterday’s closing point. This was the fourth consecutive session of fall. Selling in IT stocks and higher oil prices could have led to the fall.

IT stocks and FMCG stocks fell the most today. Realty stocks and media stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets rose on Wednesday. Asian markets traded mixed on Thursday. Most European markets traded in green (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India received foreign inflows worth $136.38 billion through a special USD-INR forex swap facility from June to August, as per RBI. Foreign currency non-resident (bank) deposits saw inflows worth $127.23 billion during this period.

• MSCI Global will delete Swiggy from its MSCI Global Standard Index and MSCI Mid Cap Index effective 7 September, after the company reduced its foreign ownership limit to 49.50%, leaving no room for new foreign investors.

• Lumino Industries listed at Rs 110 on NSE, a premium of 34.15% over its issue price and closed 35.61% higher.

Stock Updates

• Infosys: voluntarily liquidated two step-down wholly owned subsidiaries, Guidevision UK Ltd and In-tech Automotive Engineering Beijing Co Ltd.

• HCLTech: signed an MoU with Transport for NSW, the New South Wales transport authority in Australia, to explore AI and Indian-language features for its traffic-management system in Indian cities.

• Hindustan Zinc: received a letter of intent for a 314.21-hectare rare-earth elements and yttrium block in Gundlupet, Karnataka.

• Power Grid: won 2 renewable-energy transmission projects with annual transmission charges of around Rs 4,397 crore.

• Adani Energy: GQG-managed entities reduced their combined stake from 5.09% to 3.46%.

• Samvardhana Motherson: agreed to guarantee a loan facility of up to Rs 70 crore, plus interest, taken by its wholly owned subsidiary Motherson Digital Technologies Ltd.

• Canara Bank: approved raising up to $2 billion through foreign-currency bonds via its GIFT City or overseas branches

• Tata Power: commissioned a 162 circuit km transmission corridor and 1,000 MVA substation in Uttar Pradesh.

• Max Healthcare: added a new 400-bed tower at Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, and approved another Rs 87.87 crore investment for Kalinga Hospital.

• Bharat Forge: signed 2 separate defence partnerships with Thales and FN Herstal for rocket systems, small arms and counter-drone technology.

• Persistent Systems: approved fundraising of up to $1.25 billion through debt and equity-linked instruments.

Word of the Day

Carry Trade

It is a method of trading where a trader borrows money from one country (where interest rates are low) and invests in another country (where interest rates are high)

This way, the trader is able to generate a profit because of the difference in interest rates.

Example: traders borrow from Japan and invest the money in Indian bonds.

6 Day Course

Theme: quarterly reports

Day 4: Thursday

Let’s talk about dividend strategy.

As the name suggests, in this, the investor aims to invest in stocks that have a history of giving good dividends or are likely to give good dividends.

Such investors care less about the returns given by the stock’s price increase though they do not fully ignore it either.

Quality stocks strategy: some investors focus first on the quality of the management running the company and the business itself.

Their belief is that a good team and a good management and a well functioning business are best positioned for future growth.

Investors using this strategy are more accepting of higher valuations, debt, recent poor performance, etc since they are placing a bet on the management and the business.

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Featured Question

Q. “Whenever a company launches QIP at discount, after some time share price falls to QIP level or below ultimately. Why does this happen? Is QIP good or bad ?”

QIP or Qualified Institutional Placement is when a company offers some fresh shares for sale.

QIP is offered by companies that are already on the share markets (which means, they have already done their IPO).

It is a faster way for the company to raise money. These shares are offered to institutional buyers only.

To make the offer tempting, the shares are offered at a price slightly lower than the current share price.

Many times, this leads to the actual share price falling. Sometimes, it reaches the QIP price.

This can happen due to multiple factors.

If for whatever reason, a QIP is seen as a negative factor, many investors might try to sell the shares.

Many times, investors fear this effect and start selling — causing share prices to fall.

Sometimes, investors see this price offered in the QIP as the “real price” and start selling their shares believing them to be overpriced.

Also, since QIP increases the number of total shares, the earnings per share falls. This can also cause a correction in the share price.

Many times, the share price does not fall after the QIP.

Are QIPs good or bad?

QIPs are like any other fund raises done by companies. Whether a QIP is good or bad depends entirely on the purpose and intended use of the money raised.

Markets closed lower compared to yesterday’s closing point. Fresh military attacks between the US and Iran pushed oil prices higher which could have led to the fall.

Auto stocks and media stocks fell the most today. Oil & gas stocks and realty stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Tuesday. Most Asian markets fell on Wednesday. Most European markets traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• The government levied windfall taxes on petrol exports to Rs 1.5 per litre from nil. Diesel export duty was raised to Rs 25 per litre from Rs 24 per litre. The export duty on ATF exports was reduced to Rs 19 per litre from Rs 19.5 per litre.

• Coal India subsidiary, Mahanadi Coalfields filed a DRHP for an IPO, consisting of an offer for sale of 66.18 crore shares by promoter Coal India.

• Purple Style Labs IPO was subscribed 1.29 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 1.57 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

Stock Updates

• ICICI Bank: raised $17.88 billion through the RBI’s FCNR(B) swap facility by 31 Aug. Its overseas units lent $9 billion against these deposits. It also bought a 2% stake in ICICI Prudential Life for Rs 1,470 crore, taking its holding to 52.8%.

• HDFC Bank: plans to repay Rs 739 crore worth of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds on 30 Sept.

• L&T: the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has accepted the petition related to the previously announced merger scheme between L&T and L&T Realty Properties Ltd. The matter will be heard on 6 October.

• Adani Ports: step-down subsidiary Astro Offshore incorporated Astro Offshore MESA Company in Saudi Arabia for ship management and operations, with initial capital of SAR 50,000.

• UltraTech: plans to increase its logistics fleet to more than 600 heavy-duty electric trucks by December 2026.

• TVS Motor: repaid Rs 1,900.35 crore raised through preference shares after they reached maturity. It also paid the final interest/coupon of about Rs 114 crore.

• Indian Oil: received shareholder approval to expand the company’s business into areas such as hydrogen, ammonia, critical minerals, carbon markets, data centres and digital services.

• Tata Motors: received all prior sector regulatory approvals required for its proposed tender offer to acquire Iveco Group. The offer is still subject to review by Consob, Italy’s securities market regulator.

• Cholamandalam Investment: issued Rs 2,000 crore of unsecured perpetual NCDs through private placement at an 8.97% coupon rate.

• Aditya Birla Capital: issued Rs 300 crore of secured zero-coupon NCDs on a private placement basis, maturing in June 2031.

• Bharat Forge: subsidiary Kalyani Powertrain completed the previously announced sale of its entire 50% stake in REFU Drive GmbH,a German company focused on electric-drive and powertrain technology, to REFU Elektronik GmbH.

Auto Updates (August)

• Maruti Suzuki: sales rose 21.3% year-on-year to 2.19 lakh units. Domestic sales stood at 1.85 lakh units and exports stood at 33,844 units.

• M&M: sales grew 42% year-on-year to 1.07 lakh units. Domestic passenger vehicle sales grew 50% to 59,257 units while commercial vehicle sales grew 22% to 27,415 units.

• Tata Motors Passenger: sales grew 56% year-on-year to 67,753 units.

• Hyundai Motor: sales grew 8.8% year-on-year to 65,796 units including export sales of 11,400 units.

• Eicher Motors: sales grew 11% year-on-year to 1.26 lakh units.

• TVS Motor: sales grew 21% year-on-year to 6.16 lakh units. EV sales stood at 59,453 units.

• Ashok Leyland: sales grew 38% year-on-year to 21,038 units.

• Bajaj Auto: sales grew 28% year-on-year to 5.35 lakh units.

• Tata Motors: commercial vehicle sales grew 49% to 44,411 units.

Word of the Day

Final Dividend

It is the final dividend a company gives in a financial year.

It is decided after a company’s accounting for a full financial year is over.

Dividend that is paid in between the financial year is called the interim dividend.

Many companies usually announce interim dividends along with the quarterly results.

A company can also announce an interim dividend in its fourth quarter and announce a final dividend after that.

Many companies choose to skip the interim dividend of the 4th quarter and instead pay a final dividend directly.

6 Day Course

Theme: quarterly reports

Day 3: Wednesday

Today, let’s talk about sector rotation strategy.

In this, investors believe that every sector goes through cycles — good periods and difficult periods.

Sector rotation strategy aims to invest in good companies of sectors that are about to start a new cycle or are already doing well.

At the same time, they aim to sell off their existing shares that belong to industries/sectors that have lived through one cycle and might be looking at lacklustre or poor periods ahead.

The challenge with this style of investing is that it requires the investor to be very aware of the sectors and its cycles.

To make matters difficult the cycles don’t always come as expected since many industries are also affected by other external factors.

It requires the investor to be able to get out of sectors and jump into sectors at the right time.

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Featured Question

Q. “Why does our government restricts investment in international markets. Why are these limitations of 7 billion dollar.”

One of the reasons behind this limit is to do with exchange rates.

Whenever money flows out of India, it weakens our exchange rate. The opposite happens when money flows into the country.

This is why countries try to limit money flowing out of their economy in various ways.

This investment limit is just one of the many ways of doing so.

It also makes more money available for investing within the country which aids the country’s growth.

Markets closed slightly lower compared to yesterday’s closing point.

The fall could be due to the fall in most banking stocks.

Healthcare stocks and pharma stocks fell the most today. IT stocks and FMCG stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Monday. Most Asian markets fell on Tuesday. Most European markets traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s gross GST collections rose 14.80% year-on-year to Rs 1.99 lakh crore in August compared to Rs 1.74 lakh crore a year ago.

• The government reduced the stock holding limit for sugar dealers to 2,000 quintals from 4,000 quintals, effective from 15 September to 30 November. This was done to prevent hoarding and speculative trading of sugar.

• The government approved an 11 km bypass line worth Rs 272 crore between Adra and Joychadipahar, West Bengal to boost freight capacity.

• The government approved Rs 233 crore for electronic interlocking at 21 stations in Samastipur Division, Bihar to strengthen signalling infrastructure.

IPO Corner

• ESDS Software Solutions IPO was subscribed 135.88 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 39.64 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

• Purple Style Labs IPO was subscribed 0.24 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 0.93 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 2 September.

• Symbiotec Pharmalab listed flat at its issue price of Rs 988 on NSE and closed 10.73% higher.

• Skyways Air Services listed at Rs 124 on NSE, a discount of 10.14% to its issue price and closed 9.14% lower.

Stock Updates

• UltraTech Cement: started commercial production at its new wires and cables plant in Bharuch, Gujarat. The plant has an installed capacity of 10.98 lakh km of house wires and light-duty cables.

• ITC: subsidiary, ITC Infotech, will acquire a 22.1% promoter stake in Happiest Minds for about Rs 1,330 crore, after which Happiest Minds will merge into ITC Infotech. ITC Infotech will then be listed on BSE and NSE, with ITC expected to own about 73.4% of the combined company.

• HAL: announced a final dividend of Rs 10 per share.

• Tata Steel: completed the previously announced sale of Jamshedpur Football and Sporting Pvt Ltd to Churchill Brothers Sports Club Pvt Ltd.

• Adani Green: operationalised a 139 MW solar power project at Khavda, Gujarat, taking its total operational renewable energy capacity to 20,280.8 MW.

• Lodha Developers: acquired the remaining 20% stake in Bellissimo Infratech Pvt Ltd for Rs 73.52 crore, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

• Tata Consumer: acquired another 5% stake in Capital Foods, increasing its holding from 75% to 80%.

• Mankind Pharma: completed the sale of its entire stake in Broadway Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd to AKRK Projects LLP and its partners. The sale was originally announced on 11 July.

• Aurobindo Pharma: subsidiary Apitoria Pharma incorporated Avogent Lifesciences Pvt Ltd with initial capital of Rs 5 crore for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Another subsidiary, Lannett, launched generic versions of GSK’s Advair Diskus in the US for asthma and COPD.

Word of the Day

Outlay

It is the amount of money a company spends upfront to buy, acquire, or invest.

This means that the company is committing to spend that amount towards a certain objective.

Example: company ABC will build 1 lakh square ft worth of data centre space using an outlay of Rs 3,000 cr.

6 Day Course

Theme: quarterly reports

Day 2: Tuesday

Yesterday, we spoke about turnaround/revival strategy.

Today, let’s talk about momentum.

The momentum strategy believes that good stocks will continue to climb. And bad stocks will continue to perform poorly.

So they buy stocks that do well, continue to hold them as long as they do well, and sell them off when they start doing poorly.

This method completely ignored the underlying business, fundamentals, and all other details about the company. It relies only on the price of the stock.

The exact method of implementing this varies from investor to investor.

The period after which you review performance and buy/sell, the number of stocks you hold at a time, etc vary based on finer details of the strategy.

But the rough idea still is the same.

Momentum investing can involve buying/selling more often than other strategies even if investing for the long term.

Also, note that momentum is not only a long-term strategy. Many traders also use it for short term trading.

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Featured Question

Q. “What is PEG ratio,how it calculate”

PEG ratio stands for Price-to-Earnings Growth Ratio.

Many investors use PE ratio (Price-to-Earnings Ratio) to determine if a stock is fairly priced.

They compare the price of one stock to its earnings per share.

PE Ratio = Price of One Share / Earnings Per Share (EPS)

The criticism of this method is that it fails to recognise fast-growing companies. Such companies attract more investment despite being priced higher — because they are growing fast enough.

PE ratio fails to account for such companies.

PEG ratio aims to solve for that by dividing the PE ratio by the earnings growth of the company.

PEG Ratio = PE Ratio / Annual Growth of EPS (%)

Usually, a number close to 1 is deemed ideal, below it is considered undervalued, and above it is considered overvalued.

These are not strict rules and investors tend to treat them solely as a guide.

Like other metrics, PEG ratio is not a fool proof method. It has its flaws too.

Markets closed lower compared to Friday’s closing point.

The fall could be due to rising expectations of an interest rate hike in the US, after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech over the weekend. The MSCI rebalancing is expected to have added to the fall.

Media stocks and metal stocks fell the most today. Private bank stocks and healthcare stocks rose the most.

Global markets: US markets fell on Friday. Most Asian markets fell on Monday. Most European markets traded in red (as of 6 pm IST).

News

• India’s GDP rose 7.80% year-on-year in the April-June quarter compared to 6.90% a year ago.

• India’s fiscal deficit narrowed to 26.80% of the annual budget estimates between April and July, from 29.90% in the same period last year.

• The government released Index of Services Production data for June 2026. 18 out of 19 sub-sectors rose, led by real estate, retail trade and wholesale trade. Only air transport fell.

IPO Corner

• Lumino Industries IPO was subscribed 50.48 times on day 3. Retail subscription: 27.70 times. The IPO closed for subscription.

• ESDS Software Solutions IPO was subscribed 18.34 times on day 2. Retail subscription: 14.61 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 1 September.

• Purple Style Labs IPO was subscribed 0.08 times on day 1. Retail subscription: 0.39 times. The IPO will close for subscription on 2 September.

• Augmont Enterprises listed at Rs 961 on NSE, a premium of 21.95% over its issue price and closed 14.72% higher.

Stock Updates

• Muthoot Finance: approved the merger of subsidiary Muthoot Money Ltd into Muthoot Finance. Muthoot Money has 1,006 branches, which will be combined with Muthoot Finance’s network.

• Canara Bank: approved the sale of its 70% stake in Canbank Factors Ltd to Vidvedaa Pvt Ltd for Rs 80.50 crore, subject to approvals. It also paid Rs 248.10 crore in annual interest on time to investors who hold its Rs 3,000 crore Additional Tier 1 bonds.

• Cipla: signed an exclusive licensing deal with SBP Group for breast cancer drug Rolditamig Deuderuxtecan. Cipla will develop and sell the drug in India, South Africa and five other emerging markets, while SBP Group will manufacture and supply it.

• Varun Beverages: formally incorporated KIVA Spirits and Company Ltd, the subsidiary through which it plans to enter ready-to-drink and alcoholic beverages. The company had already announced this plan on 25 August.

Word of the Day

Company’s Management

It refers to the employees of a company responsible for making key decisions

These decisions include business choices, resource allocation, and organisational roles.

It is usually made up of the executive management team (CEO, CFO, CTO, etc) + senior management team (VP, SVP, Directors, etc). The middle management is also included in this list: senior managers, managers, heads, etc.

Individual contributors/employees are not considered a part of a company’s management.

The board of directors, external contractors, consultants, external advisors, and shareholders are also not considered a part of a company’s management.

6 Day Course

Theme: strategies of long-term investing

Day 1: Monday

Many investors bet on value investing (buying stocks at cheaper prices than they should be).

Many investors bet on growth investing (buying stocks that will grow very high in the future even if not cheap today).

Some accomplished investors like Warren Buffett and Howard Marks say they are both the same thing. We will not get into that discussion today.

Long-term investors use many different strategies that are roughly similar in idea but their implementation is different.

Let’s look at some of these strategies in this week’s course.

Turn around stocks/revival: investors who use this strategy are betting on stocks from industries that have not been performing well.

Their idea is that something caused them to do poorly, and now, those reasons are changing.

This change will result in good performance which is unlike what was happening before.

It is not necessary that the industry itself was underperforming. It could also be a case of one company underperforming, that for some reason is expected to do better in the future.

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What If

Debt is a cheaper source of capital than equity, but excessive debt can drown a business in interest payments.

It becomes important to check how effectively a company can repay the interest on borrowed money.

This is where Interest Coverage Ratio comes in. ICR measures how many times a company’s operating profit can cover its annual interest obligations.

Investors tend to assume that a company with a huge interest cushion makes it a good stock to bet on. But does that logic hold?

Does a company with a safer debt profile offer better stock returns?

In today’s What If, we looked at 11 years of ICR data and individual stock returns from the Nifty 100 basket to understand if higher ICR meant better stock returns, whether a strong debt cushion protects investors from sharp falls and how sector dynamics come into play.

Read the latest What If here