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Good Morning India 🇮🇳
While the world calls it jugaad, we think this is the perfect moment to coin the term desi-ngineering. A battered Maruti Omni was deployed as a road-roller in Goa, proving you don’t need proper equipment when you have classic Indian resourcefulness. Netizens roasted the stunt as engineers calmly insisted it was normal. The Omni now stands as Goa’s official mascot for budget-friendly brilliance. Takeaway: if your road is bumpy, just borrow a kidnap van — apparently it works and adds drama.
Now, let’s get into the dispatch! 🚀
MARKETS 🔔🐂🐻
As of 11:40pm IST, June 27
The week ended on a positive note, leaving the Indian market Green! This happened because of global good vibes, a weak dollar, and massive foreign investments pushing up the market.
Yesterday’s top gainers were Jio Financial (+3.50%), Asian Paints (+3.01%), Apollo Hospital (+2.91%), and top losers were TATA Cons. Prod (-%1.84), Dr. Reddys Labs (-%1.55), Trent (-%1.43).
CHEMICALS 🧪
Chemical sector poised for strong growth in FY26
Analysis credits: McKinsey
India’s speciality chemicals sector is poised for solid growth in FY26, according to a recent Nuvama report. This optimism is backed by strengthening demand trends and strategic capital expenditures by major industry players. Further fuelling this momentum are government policies such as safeguard duties, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, and the broader ‘Make in India’ initiative, all of which have positioned the sector for sustained performance.
What’s working?
Companies are increasingly adopting digitalisation, focusing on raw material efficiency, and expanding their product portfolios to maximise profitability. These shifts are helping them stay agile and competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape.
One standout segment is agrochemicals, where double-digit growth is expected. This is being driven by rising horticultural activity, evolving crop patterns, and a shift in farmer preference from insecticides to herbicides and fungicides.
On the Radar: Companies to watch
Dhanuka Agritech has been identified as one of the potential outperformers. The entity has a couple of things going for it, including the launch of two new products to strengthen its domestic footprint. Additionally, the company’s international business would most likely benefit from recent additions to its fungicide portfolio. Another key name is Fine Organics, which continues to attract investor interest due to its robust growth strategies and market positioning.
In short, India's speciality chemicals sector isn’t just bouncing back, it's recalibrating for an ambitious, innovation-led expansion.
Interested to know more? Read the complete (old but relevant) McKinsey report here, and AG Chemical Group article here.
STARTUPS 💡🚀
India’s startup surge report by Meta
Image credits: Meta, A&M
What happened?
According to a report released by Meta in collaboration with consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, India’s startup ecosystem has seen exponential growth over the past decade — driven by a surge in early-stage funding, deeper digital adoption, and rising consumer spending across metro and non-metro. The report also identified 6 key levers of growth as ecosystem now accelerates into its next growth phase:
AI adoption
Cross-border expansion
Omnichannel presence
Tier 2/3 market expansion
Category diversification
Creator-led brand building
AI Adoption: AI isn’t just a buzzword — it’s operational and measurable. The report mentioned that more than 70% of startups (it spoke to) were integrating AI into its ops and ~90% reported 30% gains in cost per acquisition. Impact was particularly seen in healthcare, edtech, and beauty sectors.
Omnichannel as a Growth Lever: Two-thirds of startups are adopting omnichannel models, acquiring customers on socials or WhatsApp — and then guiding them to physical storefronts (especially for fashion and fitness that benefit from in-person experiences).
Tier‑2 / Tier‑3 & Export Markets: Startups are no longer confined to metros—they’re actively targeting Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities, while also pursuing export opportunities (primarily in US, UAE and UK). This shift reflects deeper digital infrastructure, lower costs, and broader talent access.
BUSINESS INDIA
DHANDA HAI YEH!
Protecting domestic industries: India imposed anti-dumping duties for five years on plastic processing machines from China and Taiwan
Jio enters Brokering: Jio BlackRock got the green light from SEBI to launch brokerage services, complementing its parent company’s investment advisory services. This news boosted Jio Financial shares 5.4% to ₹323
Paint market gets mixed up: JSW Paints acquires Akzo Nobel India's 74.76% stake for ₹9,000 crore, aiming for a top-four position in India's growing ₹15.04 billion paints market. This move significantly challenges leading players like Asian Paints and Birla Opus
Wakefit Goes Public: Popular home and furnishing brand Wakefit plans an IPO with a fresh issue of ₹468 crore for expansion and a ₹93.6 crore pre-IPO round. Existing investors will sell 58.4 million shares, fuelling growth despite recent losses. One more IPO in the corner!
India’s Drone Tech flies high: Indian drone startup Raphe mPhibr raised $100 million, led by General Catalyst, marking the largest private fundraise in the sector by an Indian company to date. This record-breaking private fundraiser boosts its total capital to $145 million, expanding defence tech for India
India’s Electric Push: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) bagged a massive ₹6,500 crore order from Adani Power for six 800 MW thermal units. This increases BHEL's FY25 order pipeline to ₹92,534 crore, making its shares remain in focus on Monday
WORLD: BUSINESS AND GEOPOLITICS 🌍
KYA CHAL RAHA HAI?
Greece’s wildfire chaos: A Massive wildfire broke out south of Athens, forcing evacuations as temperatures hit 40°C. Over 130 firefighters, 12 planes, and 12 helicopters battled the blaze
Tariff drama continues: The Trump administration might extend the July 9 deadline in a bid to extract increased tariffs. Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most trading partners; however, he unveiled and then retracted steeper rates for many nations, post which a host of negotiations took place
Japan’s ‘Twitter Killer’ execution: Japan observed the capital punishment for the first time in three years, on Friday, after it executed the infamous "Twitter killer", Takahiro Shiraishi, who murdered nine people by contacting them on social media
Israel makes big claims: Israel claims "Operation Rising Lion" hit over 900 targets in Iran, killing 11 nuclear scientists and destroying 200 missile launchers. However, these figures remain unverified
Trump’s AI plan: President Trump plans executive orders to boost AI growth, eyeing energy supply for data centres. White House to unveil AI Action Plan on July 23 amid the AI dominance race against China
Aur Batao: News from across India 📰
Centre to review ₹75,800 crore worth of stalled projects in a high-level meeting held on June 24 to assess critical bottlenecks in key infrastructure projects in Jharkhand, Sikkim, Nagaland, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh
‘Operation Sindhu’ evacuates more Indians: India’s ‘Operation Sindhu’ safely brought 173 Indian nationals from Iran to Delhi. So far, 4,415 Indians, including 3,597 from Iran, have been evacuated from conflict zones.
Tata's Crash Aid: Following the deadly Air India flight 171 crash that killed over 250, TATA Sons will set up a ₹500 crore trust, to be called AI171 Trust, for the Ahmedabad plane crash victims' families
Air India Crash - Black Box data recovered: The Indian Government was able to recover the Black Box data (flight data recorder) of the plane on June 25. Analysis is ongoing to find the cause of the crash.
India’s fight against cybercrime gets a boost: CBI arrested nine in a nationwide crackdown on 8.5 lakh cyber fraud mule accounts. Separately, the government is working with UPI apps to block real-time payment fraud
Sports and Entertainment
Historic golden sweep for Indian squash: India dominated the 2nd Asian Doubles Squash Championships in Malaysia, clinching a hat-trick of gold medals across men's, women's, and mixed doubles categories, making history
India’s Olympic dream on hold: The newly elected IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, paused host selection for a process review. This made India’s 2036 Olympic Games bid decision face a delay
India’s first Golf League: The Indian Sports Minister shows a green flag to the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) to be held in January 2026. The Indian Golf Union (IGU) and the Sports Ministry want to make the sport more accessible
Kylian Mbappe vs PSG takes a new turn: The 26-year-old France forward is suing his former club PSG for ‘moral harassment’. The investigation runs parallel to his ongoing dispute regarding wages to the tune of €55 million.
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