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

Midnight News Update: 13-14 Aug 2026

A day after N Chandrasekaran stepped down from the helm of Tata Sons, the most likely man for the top job seems to be T V Narendran of Tata Steel. His appointment will need the ratification of the boards of the Tata Trusts, that hold majority stake in Tata Sons. Narendran is a 37-year veteran of the metals industry in India and has been a career Tata Steel person. The current constitution calls for consensus between the board of Tata Sons and the board of Tata Trusts on the choice of the Tata Sons chief. In the absence of consensus, Noel Tata becomes interim chairman.

Even as the FCNR(B) flows are picking up momentum, the impact has been more on the short end of the government securities yield curve. It does not seem to have helped the rupee much. One reason could be the persistent strengthening of the Japanese Yen, which now seems to be the bigger risk for the Indian rupee. For years, borrow in yen was the mug’s trade. With the hardening of the yen, the hedging costs have surged. Some of the biggest infrastructure finance companies like PFC, IRFC and IREDA are at risk. Clearly, rupee is likely to remain under stress.

The recent Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan defence pact is something that India and many other countries in the region will be closely watching. Pakistan may be losing goodwill with the US and China, and it is obviously falling back on its old OIC friends. The combination will be formidable. It will include 1.40 million active military personnel, over 3,400 aircraft, and 6,000 tanks. The pact is being called the Islamic NATO, as one of the clauses is that an attack on any one member will be seen as an attack on all. Saudi needs to build heft with Iran’s clout rising rapidly in the region.

For July 2026, India reported merchandise trade deficit of $31.98 billion; higher than the $30.43 billion reported last month. Merchandise exports were up 19.6% yoy at $44.24 billion while goods imports were up 17.5% at $76.22 billion. If the services surplus is also factored in, the overall net deficit stood at $15.03 billion for July 2026. For the April-July period, the cumulative exports stood at $173.78 billion and cumulative imports were $245.14 billion, resulting in a 4-month merchandise trade deficit of $71.36 billion. This can sharpen the current account deficit for FY27.

The Parliament has passed the Mines & Minerals Amendment Bill empowering the centre to regulate state mining levies. The centre is also entitled to impose taxes, levies, and cess on mineral rights or on mineral bearing land. This will also curb the excessive taxes levied by some states, which were discouraging the participation of private sector in mining. The Minister said that the whole idea was to boost mining. After all, the cumulative incidence of different levies should not become disproportionate to the economic value and profitability of mining activity.

There seems to be an interesting trend in mutual fund flows in July 2026. Net inflows into specialized investment funds (SIF) grew 30%, albeit on a small base. This is in contrast to the 15% fall in equity fund flows, clearly indicating that affluent investors were taking calibrated risks and more complex strategies. In the last 4 months, the AUM of SIFs has grown from ₹10,620 crore to ₹23,177 crore. Among the major SIP players, Altiva of Edelweiss, iSIF of ICICI Pru AMC, and Magnum of SBI AMC corner about 75% of the AUM. However, performance needs to match up.

There are several interesting additions to the MSCI India Index. In the latest rejig, Laurus Labs, Lenskart Solutions, Adani Energy Solutions, and Groww have been added while Astral, Balkrishna Industries, and SBI Cards exit the MSCI India index. The changes will come into effect from end of trading on 31-Aug and will be effective from 01-Sep. This will take the effective constituents up from 165 to 166. Laurus is likely to attract $598 million, Lenskart $352 million, AES $310 million, and Groww $256 million. Eternal will see the biggest weight increase in MSCI India Index.

L&T, Coal India and 18 other companies are likely to bid for ₹7,280 crore rare earth magnet scheme of the government. The scheme aims to establish 6,000 MTPA of integrated sintered NDFEB rare earth permanent magnets manufacturing capacity. It will be allocated to 5 beneficiaries, allotting them 1,200 MTPA each. The scheme will run for 7 years from the date of award, including 2 years of gestation for setting up the facility and 5 years of incentives on sales of rare earth permanent magnets. They find application in EVs, turbines, electronics, defence and aerospace.