Rajesh Shah Trump’s India trade deal sent Nifty soaring 800 points. For those holding cheap calls, it was lottery night. For those who sold them? A bloodbath Somewhere in India last night, a trader turned Rs 1,462 into Rs 1.37 lakh. Another turned Rs 3,500 into Rs 2 lakh. And somewhere else, a man who thought … Read more
Budget panic, Trump euphoria, and what long-term investors should ignore Forty-eight hours can change sentiment, and how. On Sunday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her ninth consecutive budget, and markets responded by wiping out Rs 10 lakh crore in investor wealth—the worst Budget-day showing in six years. By Monday night, a single Truth Social post … Read more
While Nirmala Sitharaman talks about “Yuva Shakti” and transforming “aspiration into achievement,” her tax proposals tell a different story for India’s burgeoning investor class. The STT Shock The biggest blow lands on derivatives traders. STT on futures jumps 150% from 0.02% to 0.05%. Options traders get hit harder—premium tax rises to 0.15% from 0.1%, while … Read more
Market data reveals unprecedented acceleration as five-year fundraising spree nearly matches three decades of capital formation Between 2020 and 2025, companies raised Rs 7.41 lakh crore through IPOs and follow-on offerings.. To put that in perspective: it took 31 years—from 1990 to 2020—to raise Rs 6.40 lakh crore. That is three decades of capital formation … Read more
Understanding the forces behind Friday’s historic precious metals meltdown — and whether one nomination changed everything If you woke up Saturday morning to check your portfolio and felt your stomach drop, you are not alone. Gold and silver experienced their most dramatic single-day declines in decades on Friday, leaving investors around the world asking the … Read more
Multi-asset funds with precious metal allocations crushed pure equity strategies as small-caps lost money and mid-caps barely registered gains Fund houses love to tout their range. Walk into any distributor’s office and you’ll get the full buffet: small-cap for aggressive growth, large-cap for stability, flexi-cap for flexibility, value for the patient investor. There’s a fund … Read more
The great Indian equity story is sobering, or so it seems and retail investors may be caught in the crossfire. A new analysis from Kotak Institutional Equities reveals that investors who started systematic investment plans (SIPs) in Indian equities after calendar year 2023 are now staring at modest returns. The weighted-average internal rate of return … Read more
Year-end index targets have proven wildly inaccurate over two decades, with analysts consistently underestimating bear markets and overestimating bull runs The Street’s annual ritual of predicting next year’s market levels is not just unreliable, it’s even wrong more than half the time, according to a analysis from DSP Mutual Fund that tracked 20 years of … Read more
More than half of 2025’s 269 small-company debuts now trade below issue price, data show The BSE SME IPO Index has tumbled to 91,627, down 23% from its July 2025 peak, as India’s small-company listing boom collides with the reality that most investors end up underwater. And in the past year the S&P BSE SME … Read more
Fractal, Hero FinCorp among firms positioning for February-March window as markets stabilise; investors may have plenty to choose from if deals come through Investors hunting for fresh opportunities in India’s equity markets may soon find themselves spoiled for choice. At least nine companies are preparing to raise a combined Rs 24,000 crore ($2.8 billion) through … Read more