Foreign investors poured ₹16,621 crore into Indian equities in the first half of August, following ₹20,200 crore in July and ending four straight months of heavy selling (March-June totalled roughly ₹2.6 lakh crore). Drivers: cheaper relative valuations, resilient earnings and expected US rate cuts, though FPIs remain net sellers in 2026.
Redemptions from equity mutual funds jumped 38% year-on-year to ₹44,824 crore in July, even as SIP inflows stayed strong. AMFI data shows it's rotation, not exit: investors booking profits in large-caps are redeploying into mid- and small-cap funds despite stretched valuations of 30-35x P/E.
BSE 500 firms paid a record ₹5.13 trillion in FY26 dividends, but growth lagged profit growth, dragging the payout ratio to 27.6%, its lowest in 12 years. Companies are retaining more cash for capex (TCS alone is ~8% of payouts), signaling a shift from return-of-capital toward investment.
HPL's subsidiary Adplus Polymers will inaugurate a Rs 6,000-crore phenol-acetone plant in Haldia this October, housing India's first on-purpose propylene unit using olefin conversion technology and its largest phenol production facility. The unit cuts the country's dependence on imported phenol, acetone, and propylene.
India's draft SHANTI rules give private firms a single licence covering construction, operation and decommissioning of nuclear plants, but require mandatory insurance and financial security through the waste-management cycle. Foreign reactors get the nod only if certified by a regulator in a "self-reliant" nuclear nation, narrowing eligible technology suppliers to a handful of countries.
EPFO has overhauled partial-withdrawal rules, letting members pull up to 75% of their provident fund balance for emergencies like unemployment, medical care and education. Thirteen separate withdrawal categories were consolidated into three, and the minimum membership period was standardized at 12 months, giving members faster, larger access to savings.
India's finance ministry has told all ministries to use the new monthly Producer Price Index, not the Wholesale Price Index, for price-escalation clauses in future procurement contracts. The move follows the commerce ministry's launch of goods and services PPI in June and aligns with IMF guidance to phase out WPI within five years.
India's electric-car exports jumped to 10,802 vehicles worth USD 369 million in Q1 2026-27, up from USD 22.2 million a year earlier. Europe is now the top destination, with Spain taking nearly 40% of shipments and the UK scaling from one vehicle to 2,646, signaling India's growing role in global EV supply chains.
Preliminary RBI data show India's June current account deficit rose to $6.2 billion from a $1.2 billion surplus a year earlier, as the merchandise trade gap widened to $30.2 billion on surging imports. A spike in banking capital and portfolio inflows flipped the overall balance to a $2.9 billion surplus.
India's largest NBFCs met Aug 14 to coordinate their challenge to RBI's draft curb on revolving credit products, and will lodge a formal protest via industry body FIDC this week. They argue the ban endangers over Rs 2 lakh crore of lending (90% to MSMEs) and hands banks an unfair competitive edge.
RBI told credit rating agencies to stop naming it as the regulator of bank deposits in their reports, a first-ever directive. Since SEBI rules force agencies to identify an instrument's regulator, deposit ratings may be scrapped entirely, likely to prevent downgrade-triggered deposit runs at smaller banks. Agencies have sought SEBI guidance.
India's mutual fund AUM hit a record ₹85.76 lakh crore in July 2026, up ₹9.65 lakh crore in a year, per AMFI data. Equity schemes (now ₹37.92 lakh crore) drove the gains as millennials shift savings from bank deposits into stocks, with equity funds posting a 65th straight month of inflows.
Gold rose 0.6% to $4,374/oz as weak US consumer sentiment and the steepest July retail-sales drop in over a year eased fears of an imminent Fed rate hike. Chicago Fed's Goolsbee wants more inflation cooling to confirm the 2% path, while Iran-linked oil gains keep tightening risk alive, leaving bullion open to consolidation.
Zinc prices are at multi-year highs as China flooding, lower output from major miners and falling LME inventories tighten supply. A slight global deficit (ILZSG sees demand outpacing production) plus resilient galvanized-steel demand should keep prices elevated, pushing up construction and auto costs.
You’re caught up.
That was all 14 stories in the 17 August issue.