Daily Market News Update — 17th-18th August 2026

Midnight News Update: 17-18 Aug 2026

Indian government has cleared a total of 31 applications worth ₹7,877 crore under the ECMS 2.0 scheme. This pertains to electronic manufacturing services (EMS) companies to help create a more robust domestic supply chain. It is expected to generate production worth ₹82,243 crore and create over 10,000 jobs. This round covers a number of key products including camera, display modules, anode materials, connectors, transducers, rare earth magnets, optical trans-receivers, capacitors etc. The approved projects entail cumulative investments of ₹69,548 crore.

RBI will incur about $9 billion to $12 billion as FCNR(B) hedging costs. This is estimated on expected FCNR(B) flows of $70 billion by the time the special window closes on 31-Aug. The annual cost of hedging will be in the range of 2.5%-3.5%. Under the FCNR(B) special window, RBI will absorb the hedging costs; leaving the banks to offer higher rates of interest to NRIs. However, it is the leverage aspect that has actually driven flows into FCNR(B) deposits. The cost is substantial, but fairly small compared to the size of the RBI balance sheet. Forex boost will be the big kicker.

The battle for quick commerce has, for long, been about dark stores. Now, traditional retailers are taking the battle beyond dark stores by leveraging their physical store network. They are taking on Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart by turning their physical stores into q-commerce fulfilment centres. This changes the economics of quick commerce. For example, Vishal Mega Marg fulfils quick commerce orders through 767 of its 819 stores across 520 cities. This is allowing penetration and getting them new customers. Reliance Retail and Spencer are adopting similar strategy.

The good news for the Indian economy is that urea prices have moderated by nearly 60% since the peak of April. Latest data on imports by RCF show that the average price of urea is down from $959/tonne in April to $393/tonne in August. In FY26, out of the 40 MT of urea consumed, nearly 25% of the urea was imported. However, the sharp fall in urea prices also moderates fears of a spike in the fertilizer subsidy bill of the government. Now, the subsidy bill is expected at ₹2.37 trillion against the previous estimate of ₹3.00 trillion. That should be a fiscal relief.

The HDFC Defence Fund may have done very well in isolation. However, the Defence index has done a lot better over a 3-year period. Over a 1-year time frame HDFC Defence Fund gave returns of 29.93% in the regular plan while the benchmark gave 26.45%. However, over 3-years, the HDFC Defence Fund earned 40.36% in its regular plan, while the Defence Index earned 49.76%. This has once again raised questions about the ability of active fund managers to beat the index over the longer term. Most fund managers blame underperformance on the Kurtosis effect.

Jefferies sees a triple whammy for BSE Ltd and has downgraded the stock with a possible 16% downside to the stock. It has also shifted the stock view from “Hold” to “Underperform”. The brokerage has identified several factors that work against BSE. It includes pressure on proprietary trades from higher STT, RBI tightening bank guarantee norms, and the volatility induced by the closing auction system (CAS). Domestic proprietary traders account for 60% of notional volumes on options and that has been hit badly. Jefferies cut BSE earnings estimate by 5-12%.

India’s major NBFCs like Tata Capital and Shriram Finance are urging RBI to review its recent proposal to impose a blanket ban on revolving credit facilities offered by NBFCs. These NBFCs are planning to make a representation to RBI and to Ministry of Finance, on why revolving credit facility by NBFCs should not be banned. It would impact nearly ₹2 trillion of NBFC lending and largely impact individuals and MSMEs, who avail this facility frequently. NBFCs believe that such a ban would create arbitrage in favour of banks. RBI wants NBFCs to stick to term loans.

After strong subscription numbers, two recent IPOs (Molbio Diagnostics and Dhoot Transmission) made a stellar listing debut on the bourses. While Dhoot Transmission jumped 37% on the day of listing, Molbio was up 21%. Both these IPOs had opened for subscription on 10-Aug and closed on 12-Aug. They were listed on the BSE and NSE on 17-Aug. While Dhoot Transmission is one of the leading electrical equipment companies in India, Molbio is a specialized diagnostics company. While Molbio got 70.26X subscription, Dhoot Transmission was subscribed 74.21 times.