Daily Market News Update — 13th-14th September 2026

Midnight News Update: 13-14 Sep 2026

RBI finally rejected the application of Tata Sons to surrender its NBFC license. That means; Tata Sons will have to comply with the RBI stipulation and go for an IPO to list on the stock exchanges. Tata Sons, which had objected to the listing, had applied to RBI in March 2024 to surrender its NBFC license, so it can avoid listing. However, RBI subsequently shifted its definition of upper layer NBFCs to an asset-based definition. Noel Tata is also opposed to the idea of listing Tata Sons. In a sense, the decision to list or not to list a company could have been best left to the board.

As the NSE prepares to open its IPO on 17-September; the issue size is going to be well below the Hyundai India IPO, after NSE trimmed its issue size by 15%. The price band for the IPO has been set in the range of ₹1,700 to ₹1,785. The anchor demand is already showing signs of elevated interest with LIC likely to emerge as the biggest investor in the NSE IPO. Apart from LIC, the other major investors in the anchor allocation will be Norges Bank, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Carmignac of Europe, Fidelity, and Government Investment Corp (GIC) of Singapore.

In a move long overdue, SEBI proposed changes to its rather controversial closing auction session (CAS). Instead of relying entirely on the CAS session price, the revised model may look at using the VWAP price or a combination of VWAP and CAS price. There is also a proposal to allow trading in CAS stocks till 3.30 pm, and then conduct CAS up to 3.40 pm. SEBI also proposes to reduce the transition time for continuous trading and CAS trading from 5 minutes to 1 minute. Orders beyond 1% will not be cancelled but modified to improve price. Proposals are up for comments.

HDFC Bank has shortlisted 2 candidates for the post of MD & CEO and the names have been forwarded to the RBI for approval. The CEO will be approved for a period of 3 years. While the 2 names have not been disclosed; the company has disclosed that V Srinivasa Rangan had been reappointed as whole time director while Jimmy Tata was appointed as executive director of HDFC Bank. The term of Sasidhar Jagdishan ends on 26-October, so the bank management has just a little over a month to finalize on the next CEO. It will be a major challenge for the next CEO.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has slashed estimates of oil demand for the current year due to escalation of violence in the Middle East and sharply higher energy prices. In August, the IEA had forecast that oil demand would fall by 1.6 million bpd, but has now increased the likely fall in demand to 2.5 million bpd. In recent days, the price of Brent crude has gone well above $100/bbl. Apart from the key transit routes being shut, the persistent drone attacks by Ukraine on key Russian oil installations have also spiked prices. Houthi rebels are also adding to oil woes.

The Houthi Rebels, one of the militant groups supported by Iran, claims to have captured the Perin Islands. This is likely to significantly impact the main shipping corridor connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. Perin is a key island in the Bab-al-Mandeb. Even as Saudi Arabia and UAE have been trying to divert oil flows through pipelines to the West coast, a spate of drone attacks on these pipelines has also impacted supplies. For the US, it is critical that Houthis do not gain control over the Bab-al-Mandeb as it gives a big edge to Iran.

It is not just sugar, but grain-based feedstocks have powered nearly 70% of the ethanol supplies in financial year FY26. For the period to August 2026, India’s total ethanol supplies touched 895 crore litres. Out of these 895 crore litres, nearly 624 crore litres came from grain-based feedstocks. Within the gamut of grains; maize was the largest contributor, followed by surplus rice supplied by FCI, and damaged foodgrains. India is moving away from the current ethanol blending framework to wider use in flex-fuel vehicles, compressed bio-gas, and sustainable aviation fuels.

According to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), artificial intelligence (AI) could cut cost-to-serve ratio of banks by 20% to 30%. This will be through better underwriting, improved collections and customer service. Most banks have been investing in AI, but the bigger challenge is to measure the ROI on such AI investments. For now, the big area where AI is making a difference to banks is in process efficiency. AI-enabled bots also reduce the workload of tele-calling teams and field collection teams. MSMEs can also benefit substantially with AI.