India Daybook: August 03, 2026

🇮🇳 India Daybook: NSE Shifts to New Closing Auction, ITC Profit Dips on Cigarette Tax

The Indian equity market undergoes a major structural shift today as the NSE introduces a new Closing Auction Session and extends derivatives trading hours to 3:40 PM. Corporate earnings remain in focus with ITC reporting a significant profit decline due to tax pressures, while ABB India announced a massive special dividend.

📍 OPERATIONAL CHANGE

• NSE & SEBI: Effective August 03, 2026, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has implemented the Closing Auction Session (CAS) for eligible Futures & Options (F&O) stocks.
• Trading Hours: Trading in the equity derivatives segment has been extended by 10 minutes, now closing at 3:40 PM instead of 3:30 PM to align with the new cash market auction process.
• Closing Mechanism: F&O-eligible stocks will now move into a dedicated auction process after 3:15 PM to determine the official closing price, replacing the old VWAP-based mechanism.

📍 EARNINGS

• ITC: Reported a 27.1% year-on-year (YoY) decline in standalone net profit to ₹3,579 crore for Q1 FY27. The bottom line was severely impacted by record taxation on cigarettes, which saw segment profits drop by 35%.
• ABB India: The company’s Q2 CY2026 net profit rose 3% YoY to ₹362 crore, while revenue grew 21% to ₹3,559 crore. The board declared a substantial special dividend of ₹90 per share.
• Divi’s Labs: Posted a strong 65% YoY jump in Q1 net profit to ₹902 crore, driven by robust operational performance and a 28% increase in revenue.
• Welspun Corp: Consolidated net profit for Q1 surged to ₹1,048 crore, significantly boosted by a one-time gain of ₹548 crore from the sale of its stake in Saudi-listed East Pipes.
• CDSL: Reported a 14% YoY increase in Q1 profit, benefiting from the continued surge in new demat account openings and market activity.
• Jindal Worldwide: Q1 net profit rose 85.7% YoY to ₹32.4 crore despite a marginal 2.7% increase in revenue.

📍 ACQUISITION

• Welspun Corp: Successfully completed the acquisition of an additional 51% stake in Welspun Captive Power Generation Limited (WCPGL) from Welspun Living for ₹67.66 crore. Its total holding in the entity now stands at 74%.
• Park Medi World: The company has acquired an 80% stake in V3, expanding its footprint in the healthcare services sector.

📍 ORDER WIN

• ideaForge Technology: Received in-principle approval from the Technology Development Board for funding up to ₹151 crore to develop its "YETI" heavy-lift autonomous aerial logistics vehicle.
• Welspun Corp: Recently secured a major order worth ₹960 crore for coated line pipes for a US-based project, taking its global order book to a record ₹25,750 crore.

📍 REGULATORY & TAX

• LIC: The insurance giant has been hit with two separate GST demands. One for ₹99.1 crore (plus interest and penalty) from Jharkhand authorities, and another for ₹95.24 crore from CGST Allahabad for the period FY19–FY21.
• ICICI Bank: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the reappointment of Ajay Kumar Gupta as Executive Director for a further period of two years, effective November 27, 2026.

📍 CORPORATE APPOINTMENT

• Britannia Industries: Appointed Siddharth Parakh as Head of Strategy & Business Development, effective today, August 03, 2026. Parakh previously held senior roles at Tata Sons and Edelweiss.
• Jupiter Life Line Hospitals: Appointed Harshad Purani as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company.

📍 DIVIDEND

• ABB India: Declared a special dividend of ₹90 per equity share.
• Coforge: Declared an interim dividend of ₹4 per share.
• Transrail Lighting: Announced an interim dividend of ₹3 per share.

📍 FUND RAISING / CAPITAL ACTION

• Greaves Cotton: Its subsidiary, Greaves Electric Mobility, successfully completed a ₹530 crore rights issue. Greaves Cotton maintained its 62.48% stake by subscribing to ₹331 crore of the issue.
• Mufin Green Finance: The board approved a private placement of secured non-convertible debentures (NCDs) worth up to ₹125 crore.

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