India's retail inflation, which has stayed below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) 4 per cent target in recent times, is likely to remain benign in the coming months, RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said in a speech, on Friday, which was uploaded on the central bank's website on Tuesday. Headline inflation dipped to multi-year lows of around 1.5-2.8 per cent in late 2025.
The easing of external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to significantly boost overseas fundraising by Indian companies, market participants said.
Investors are moving away from the commercial paper (CP) market towards certificates of deposit (CDs), as primary CD issuances and rates on these short-term instruments rise.
The rupee, which was the worst performing Asian currency in 2025 and also in January, was the best performing Asian currency on Tuesday.
Domestic equities surged on Tuesday, posting their best single-day gains in more than eight months after a long-awaited trade deal between India and the US. The deal, which lowered tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent, significantly improved investor sentiment and lifted a key overhang for the market.
Foreign investors have remained cautious ahead of the Union Budget amid expectations of limited policy changes.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced a set of liquidity measures through open market operations (OMOs), dollar-rupee buy-sell swaps, and long-term variable rate repo (VRR) operations, in a bid to infuse liquidity into the banking system.
Indian equities declined on Friday, with the benchmark Nifty posting its worst weekly fall since September, as foreign investor sentiment remained weak amid tepid earnings growth and little progress on the India-US trade front.
The total reserves increased to $701.3 billion on the back of a rise in foreign currency assets which increased by $9.6 billion to $560 billion during the reported week.
FPIs net sold equities worth Rs 1.7 trillion in 2025 -- the highest annual net sale on record.
Retail investors' equity portfolios have significantly underperformed benchmark indices over the past 16 to 18 months.
Fundraising through pre-initial public offerings (pre-IPOs) more than doubled in 2025 compared with the previous year, but remained below the peak seen in 2023. The narrowing gap between pre-IPO and IPO pricing is the reason for the decline in both the number and value of such deals over the past two years.
The rupee witnessed its worst single-day decline in around two months since November 21, 2025, due to demand for dollars among importers, said dealers. The maturing short positions in the non-deliverable forwards market further weighed on the local currency.
India was being evaluated for a potential weight of around 1 per cent in the index, an allocation that could have translated into $25 billion of inflows, spread over roughly 10 months.
Strong domestic growth will continue to draw foreign investment into the Indian economy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Tuesday. He said this was reflected in recent free trade agreements and investment commitments by large technology companies.
A neutral monetary policy stance, heavy government borrowing, and issuers adjusting to a higher-for-longer yield environment have set the stage for a largely stable corporate bond market in 2026.
The previous largest weekly decline was recorded in the week ended November 15, 2024.
The amount involved in banking system frauds surged to Rs 21,515 crore in the first half of FY26, up 30 per cent from the same period last year, even as the number of frauds fell 2.8 times to 5,092.
The surge has come alongside a decline in average issue sizes and more muted listing-day returns compared with last year.
'Retail portfolios were going nowhere even as headline indices moved higher, prompting investors to sell holdings and shift money to IPOs, attracted by listing-day gains.'
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