Daily Market News Update — 20th-21st October 2026

Midnight News Update: 20-21 Oct 2026

Even as the Starlink accusations against Reliance group continues, the Indian government is now weighing some serious security checkpoints for satellite communication (SATCOM) services. The Indian government is currently in discussions to create a hardware device that will monitor satellite communication from foreign providers. The idea is to protect national security by controlling and closely monitoring internet traffic from SATCOM service providers like Starlink (part of Elon Musk group). The security will address potential risks with untrusted transport carriers.

India’s online retail market is expected to cross $90 billion in year 2026; with grocery overtaking mobiles and other electronics. The big growth is likely to be driven by groceries, home needs, and beauty products. Growth in online mobile sales is expected to fall from 19% to 16%. According to Redseer; groceries, home needs, and beauty products are likely to grow at closer to 24% yoy. The gross merchandise value (GMV) of ecommerce sales in H1FY27 was up 25% yoy at $38 billion, with the second half to get a boost from festive sales. Groceries will be the big growth story.

Hindustan Zinc, part of the Vedanta Group, reported more than doubling of Q2FY27 net profits at ₹6,412 crore. Revenues in the quarter were also up a robust 76.7% at ₹14,582 crore. EBITDA for the quarter was up 108% yoy at ₹9,285 crore. The company gained from higher metal volumes, better metal prices, and lower costs. EBITDA margins expanded 900 bps to 62% in Q2FY27. Mined metal and refined metal output touched record levels of 271 KT and 264 KT respectively. The company also generated free cash flows of ₹6,389 crore (pre-capex) in Q2FY27.

India’s trade with United Arab Emirates (UAE) since signing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is working wonders. Total trade again crossed $100 billion this financial year, underlining the benefits of such bilateral trade arrangements. It offers easier access to UAE markets for Indian exporters, as well as easy access to the UAE exports to India. India exports refined petroleum products, jewellery, electronics, and pharma; while it imports crude oil and precious metals from the UAE. In FY26, India’s trade deficit with UAE stands at $26.53 billion.

The Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts (SDTT) has filed a response to the queries and objections raised by Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh to the Charity Commissioner. In September, Srinivasan and Singh had separately filed complaints against SDTT with the Charity Commissioner over alleged irregularities in appointment of trustees and interference with nominee directors. They also questioned giving lifetime directorship to Noel Tata and the induction of Neville Tata into the Trusts. They also objected to not being consulted on crucial decisions on Tata Sons structure by the Trust.

OYO has had a volatile relationship with the capital markets. Previous attempts to list had to be called off. This time around, the company has decided to drastically cut the size of its IPO from ₹6,650 crore to ₹3,350 crore. Bulk of the funds will be used to repay debt. According to OYO, the robust cash flow generation in recent months had precluded the necessity of a larger IPO size. Moody’s had upgraded the rating outlook of the company from “Stable” to “Positive”. PRISM, the parent of OYO, expects its EBITDA to grow to ₹3,000 crore over the next 12-18 months.

Speaking at a recent logistics conference in Dubai, HSBC has underlined that over the next 5 years, the Straits of Hormuz route may actually become redundant for world trade. There is already an alternate East-West pipeline that transports oil to the Western port of Yanbu, which totally avoids the Straits of Hormuz. The Gulf region is investing heavily in underground pipelines to move oil directly to areas where the threat of Iran is not present. The entire Middle East is likely to see billions of dollars in investments in oil pipeline and transportation infrastructure.

Piramal Finance saw net profits jump by 67% yoy in Q2FY27 at ₹545 crore. Profits were also 18% higher compared to the sequential quarter. Net interest income (NII) for the quarter was up 35% at ₹1,530 crore, led by 27% growth in top line revenues at ₹3,659 crore. The net interest margins (NIM) improved sharply to 6.50% for the quarter, while the assets under management (AUM) was up 24% at ₹1,13,000 crore. Gross NPAs were 20 bps lower at 2.4%, but relatively high by NBFC standards. In the last 1 month, the stock has been under pressure; losing nearly 15%.