Weekly Market Impact — for the week ending 08th May 2026

Weekly Capsule (May 04 – May 08) and Impact Analysis

Direct tax collections for FY26 fall well short of the annual revised estimates

• The direct tax collections at ₹23.40 trillion was 3.34% lower than revised estimates and 7.14% below budget estimates
• The government is still to pay out direct tax refunds of ₹3-4 trillion, so the actual shortfall may be much bigger for FY26

Trump decides to pause “Project Freedom”, blocking Iranian ports

• This has given out strong indications to the market that the US and Iran may be close to inking a deal to cease hostilities
• The US has not only been under global pressure, but even its allies in the Middle East were unhappy with its Iran blockade

NSE announced the official launch of Electronic Gold Receipts (EGR) on NSE

• This is a demat mode of holding gold, with the gold EGRs being fully backed by physical gold in accredited vaults
• EGRs slightly differ from gold ETFs, in that the EGR represents direct ownership of gold in vault with physical delivery option

Tata Trusts meet postponed from 08-May to 16-May amid legal challenges

• The Tata Trust meeting was to discuss listing of Tata Sons, losses of group companies and leadership at Tata Sons
• The delay is more due to the several differences between the directors of the two Tata Trusts about the group trajectory

Berkshire Hathaway cash pile grows further to $397 billion as of March-26

• In the March quarter, Berkshire sold shares worth $8.1 billion but did not see too many equity market buying opportunities
• Ironically, Berkshire Hathaway has been steadily investing in US Treasuries, when US equity indices are making new highs

Indian rupee shows strength after opening the week beyond ₹95/$

• The rupee closed the week at around ₹94.34/$ on the back of RBI intervention to support the rupee and global peace pivot
• With the US and Iran moving towards a truce, it looks like the heavy FPI selling in Indian equities may also start to taper

S&P cuts India’s FY27 GDP growth estimate to 6.6% on inflation worries

• This is 50-bps lower than the earlier projection of 7.1%, with the real GDP growth impacted by a 310-bps spike in inflation
• The supply chain constraints created by the US Iran war are likely to have a lingering impact on the GDP growth

According to NASSCOM-Zinnov report, India had a total of 2,117 GCCs

• These global capability centres employed 23.6 lakh people and generated revenues worth $98 billion via service exports
• Nearly 25% of the Fortune 2000 companies have GCC presence in India, with project complexity scaling up

L&T to invest up to ₹45,000 crore across Green Hydrogen, Data Centres

• This investment of ₹45,000 crore will be phased out over the next 5 years, and will be mostly in value added businesses
• While bulk of the investment will go into green hydrogen and data centres, it will also invest in specialized semiconductors

Air India plans major steps to curb its annual losses of over ₹22,000 crore

• While Air India has ruled out mass layoffs, it is planning to put non-tech workers on furlough and cut flight capacity by 20%
• The problems for airlines has worsened in the last few months with higher ATF prices causing negative RASK/CASK spreads

InCred files DRHP for ₹1,250 crore fresh issue, and 9.9 crore shares via OFS

• The fresh funds will be entirely used to boost the capital base of its NBFC subsidiary to enable expanding the loan book
• Its lending business is dominated by personal loans and student loans; which account for 77% of the overall loan book

SBI reported 6% higher standalone net profits for Q4FY26 at ₹19,684 crore

• NII increased by 4.1% to ₹44,380 crore, while total income was marginally lower on yoy basis at ₹1,40,412 crore
• For FY26, SBI reported 13% higher net profits at ₹80,032 crore and declared a dividend of ₹17.35 per share to shareholders

Brent Crude oscillated throughout the week and closed at $101.05/bbl

• After starting the week close to $115/bbl, the price of crude oil fell after the US and Iran gave signals of lasting peace
• However, oil continues to be nearly 45% above the pre-war levels and hints at a structurally higher new normal

FPIs were net sellers of $1,493 million for the week ending on 08-May

• For April 2026, FPIs were net sellers to the tune of $6.49 billion, largely dominated by BFSI and consumer stocks
• Despite signs of normalcy returning to the Middle East, FPIs continue to be wary of investing at steep Indian valuations

Gold rallied for the week to $4,722/oz, while silver rallied to $80.40/oz

• The bounce in gold and silver prices this week was largely on account of normalcy returning to the global markets
• A recent Deutsche Bank report had underlined that gold still had a lot of bounce left; and has given a target of $6,000/oz

RBI’s new rules could make it tougher for Tata Sons to remain unlisted

• While the Tata Trusts board meet has been put off to 16-May, it does not change the internal rift over the listing of Tata Sons
• The new rules are scale-based and markets are worried that Tatas may retain access to public funds through group entities

Indian retail chains bet big on store expansion amid demand recovery

• Top retailers added 2,182 stores in FY26; driven by recovery in demand, sharp tax cuts, and preference for organized retail
• This is the best growth in 3 years, and a lot of expansion was done in smaller towns where physical shopping is preferred

OMCs (HPCL, BPCL, IOC) to see ₹30,000 crore under-recoveries per month

• This is the average combined loss on petrol, diesel, and LPG for selling these fuels below the international price levels
• While Brent Crude prices have gone up 40%, India has not raised the prices of petrol and diesel for mass consumption

CBDT to target top 10,000 arrears cases to recover ₹2.57 trillion in FY27

• The CBDT will be using technology and artificial intelligence as also multiple data sources from banks to track loose ends
• For the year FY26, the direct tax collections fell short of the full year Budget Estimates by 7.1%, despite delayed refunds

SEBI planning a major overhaul of the open market buyback framework

• Time frame for buyback completion to be cut from 6 months to 66 days with 40% funds to be deployed in first half itself
• As of now it is in the form of a consultative paper and the final decision will be taken only after the comments are elicited

Apple and Intel enter into a preliminary chip making agreement in win-win deal

• In a major boost for Intel, which had lost in the AI chip race, this deal will bring the pioneer in chips back into reckoning
• This will be an important order for Intel, allowing it to close the gap between itself and TSMC in mobile and AI chips