Index Red, Scorecard Green
Indian benchmarks closed lower on Friday, with the Nifty 50 down 0.27% to 24,570.65 and the Sensex off 0.58% at 78,499.17, even as a clutch of large-cap earnings beat estimates. SBI's Q1 profit rose 10.2% YoY to ₹21,121 crore against a street estimate of ₹19,145 crore, Titan's profit jumped 63-65% and Hindalco posted a record 75% profit surge to ₹7,013 crore. The disconnect between strong corporate results and a soft index suggests broader profit-booking or sector-specific drag overshadowed individual earnings strength.
IT Bucks the Trend
Nifty IT was the standout gainer, up 1.42% to 31,547.7, likely tracking Friday's Wall Street rally where the Nasdaq surged 1.30% and the S&P 500 hit a record 7,757.64. A softer US jobs report has cooled Fed rate-hike expectations, a dynamic that historically supports risk sentiment toward India's export-oriented IT services stocks. Bank Nifty, by contrast, slipped 0.55% to 57,746.45 despite SBI's strong showing, hinting that banking sentiment is being weighed by broader index-level caution rather than fundamentals.
SBI's Scale Story
SBI's loan book crossed ₹50 lakh crore for the first time, representing roughly 23% of all scheduled commercial bank credit in India and nearly 1.7 times HDFC Bank's book. Management also flagged progress toward a $10 billion FCNR(B) deposit target by September, having already raised $6 billion, while asserting the deposit drive won't dent margins. This scale and funding diversification narrative is a structural data point for anyone tracking systemic banking concentration in India.
Titan and Hindalco Fire on All Cylinders
Titan's Q1 revenue rose 40% YoY to ₹20,787 crore with profit up 63%, and management pointed to a jewellery demand rebound despite elevated gold prices, alongside rising premiumisation trends. Hindalco's revenue hit an all-time high of ₹84,825 crore with EBITDA surging 73%, driven by aluminium, copper and a Novelis recovery, even as it begins paying up to ₹225 crore annually in brand royalty to Birla Group Holdings under a new governance framework. Both results illustrate how consumption and commodity-linked businesses are translating pricing power into margin expansion.
Gold's Quiet Surge
Gold has climbed 2.37% to 4,401.3, hitting a seven-week high globally as weak US jobs data dents rate-hike expectations, a dynamic directly cited in Friday's global wire reports. This creates an interesting tension for Indian jewellers like Titan, whose management still describes demand as resilient even at higher gold price points. Rising gold reserves also contributed to India's forex reserves jumping $10.5 billion to $692.87 billion, a two-month high.
Flows Turn Constructive
FIIs turned net buyers on Friday, injecting ₹480 crore into Indian equities after a brief selling spell, while DIIs added a further ₹236 crore despite the weak index close. Separately, Jefferies estimates the RBI's FCNR(B) scheme, which has already attracted $41 billion, could see inflows double to $80-100 billion, a flow that has been helping stabilise the rupee, which was little changed at 95.20 against the dollar. Sustained foreign inflows alongside a robust IPO pipeline point to continued primary and secondary market depth.
Regulatory Recalibration at SEBI
SEBI has announced it will cut routine inspections of market intermediaries to roughly one-third of last year's volume, shifting toward risk-based, joint inspections using alerts and market intelligence. Separately, the regulator granted approvals to a wave of IPO-bound companies spanning railways, gaming, drones, paper and renewable energy, including Garuda Aerospace, PlaySimple Games and Rediff.com, keeping India's primary market pipeline active into H2. This lighter-touch, targeted compliance approach could reduce friction costs for well-governed intermediaries while sharpening focus on high-risk players.
Corporate Governance and Order Wins
The RBI rejected Religare's demerger proposal without disclosing specific reasons, a reminder that regulatory approval risk remains material in corporate restructuring plans. On the order-book side, L&T's unit secured a large ONGC order worth up to ₹10,000 crore, its eighth win in a month, while Hitachi Energy India reported profit more than doubling with a record order backlog exceeding ₹32,200 crore, both signalling healthy capex momentum in energy and infrastructure verticals.