Financial Markets and Corporate Results - Newspaper Summary

 The sources indicate that Indian financial markets in November 2025 showed strong momentum, evidenced by equity benchmarks recording their best monthly gains in seven months in October, driven by robust corporate earnings. Key corporate results for the quarter or half-year ended September 30, 2025 (Q2 FY26), showed mixed results influenced by specific operational factors and macro changes.

Corporate results highlight several sector-specific dynamics:

• Automotive: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd reported a 7% year-on-year growth in profit, reaching ₹3,293 crore, driven partly by a 42% surge in exports. This followed a 10 percentage point reduction in GST on small cars, which may prompt rivals to reconsider the small car segment.
• Energy/Commodities: Vedanta Ltd saw a significant 59% decline in profit attributable to owners (to ₹1,798 crore) due to a one-time write-off of ₹1,407 crore related to a legal dispute in its power business. Meanwhile, Patanjali Foods reported a 67.4% rise in quarterly profit due to strong edible oil demand. GAIL (India) Limited also released its Q2 FY26 financial results, showing a consolidated net profit after tax of ₹2,671.93 crore.
• Technology/Retail: Apple achieved an all-time new revenue record in India in the September quarter, marking its 14th consecutive quarter of growth, primarily driven by strong demand for the iPhone 17.

In the larger context of the Market and Economy (November 2025), the sources note that India's fiscal deficit is under control, standing at 36.5% of the annual budget target for FY26 as of September, despite a 40% surge in public capital expenditure, aided by a windfall dividend from the RBI. Globally, Big Tech is engaged in a massive AI spending frenzy, with Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon planning huge capital expenditures for 2026, though investor reaction was mixed, signaling uncertainty about returns on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) investments. Domestic conglomerates like RIL, Adani, and Tata are poised to out-invest Big Tech in Indian gigawatt-scale data centers, viewing them as critical national utilities for the AI era. Financial markets are also seeing regulatory changes, such as SEBI signaling the eventual National Stock Exchange (NSE) IPO and proposing fee tweaks for mutual funds that could impact AMC margins and distributor commissions.