India’s rocket ambitions go private
FTSE rejig, Swiggy does concierge, and Suzlon's clean energy bet.
🗓 Morning, folks! It’s a new week.
💡 Spotlight: India is planning a ₹5,000 crore scheme to kickstart domestic production of rare earth materials, with official approval expected in the next two weeks.
At least five major Indian companies have shown early interest. The government will use a reverse auction process to allocate benefits under the plan.
The move comes as China tightens rare earth exports, disrupting global supply chains. Since April, restrictions have left automakers and tech firms in the US, Europe, and India scrambling for critical magnets used in EVs, electronics, and defence.
India’s push is aimed at reducing dependency and building a local supply chain for strategic materials.
Let’s hit it!
1 Big thing: Indian stocks rally after FTSE Index Inclusion 📈
Shares of several India-listed companies rallied in trade after their inclusion in FTSE Russell’s indices.
The revision announcement was done on June 20, with the flows expected to commence from June 23.
FTSE stands for Financial Times Stock Exchange. It's a group of stock market indices owned by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.
Stocks on the FTSE radar: Hyundai Motor India, Swiggy, Waaree Energies, NTPC Green Energy, Sai Life Sciences, Vishal MegaMart, Afcons Infrastructure, OneSource Specialty Pharma & Inventurus Knowledge.
The why: inclusion or increase in the weightage of the stock in global indices leads to inflows from passive funds which track that particular index. Conversely, exclusion from FTSE or any other global indices leads to outflows.
What’s in-store for the investors?
Being added to a global index like FTSE means more big investors and funds around the world will notice and invest in the stock. It also makes the stock easier to trade and shows that the company is strong and trusted in the market.
💰 FTSE REJIG: Est Inflows ($ M)
Vishal Mega Mart - $115M
Hyundai - $56M
Waaree Energies - $49M
Swiggy - $32M
2. United Spirits goes all in on craft gin 🍸
United Spirits will fully acquire NAO Spirits, maker of Greater Than & Hapusa, in a ₹130 crore deal.
NAO Spirits operates in the niche Indian craft spirits space, with a sharp focus on premium gin, a segment that’s seeing rising consumer demand.
United will also invest up to ₹20 crore in additional working capital and business expansion.
The why: the company sees NAO as a pivotal piece in its future growth bets, especially as Indian consumers lean more toward homegrown, artisanal spirits.
The acquisition comes under United Spirits’ Ventures arm, which focuses on building high-potential portfolio brands. It is best known for its mass-market and premium liquor brands like McDowell’s No.1, Royal Challenge, and Antiquity.
By the numbers: NAO clocked ₹34.8 crore in net revenue and holds a net worth of ₹18.2 crore as of FY24.
Zoom out: the global gin market stood at $14.3B in 2023, and is projected to grow at a rate of 4% to touch $20.4B by 2032.
The shift toward premium, botanical-rich craft gins is driving demand, particularly in Europe, North America, and now, increasingly, India. United Spirits is placing its bet where the trend is heading.
3. HAL bags ₹511 cr solo space deal 🤝
HAL just bagged a ₹511 crore deal to build and launch India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), its first major step into the commercial space race.
SSLV is a compact rocket designed to carry payloads of up to 500 kg to low-Earth orbit, ideal for the booming global demand in small satellite deployments.
What makes this win historic is that HAL now gains the right to build, own, and commercialise SSLV launches, setting a new precedent in India’s private space sector participation.
Why it matters: this is the first strategic tech transfer of rocket manufacturing under India's liberalised space policy. It signals a shift in ISRO’s role from operator to enabler.
Zoom out: India currently holds just a 2% share of the global space economy but is targeting $44B by 2030.
HAL’s SSLV win is one small step for a rocket, one giant leap for India’s space ambitions.
4. Swiggy enters the concierge game 🛎️
Swiggy has quietly launched Crew, an invite-only lifestyle concierge app offering premium users everything from travel planning to home services.
The deets: Crew helps users with tasks like vacation bookings, getting international driving licences, managing laundry, finding gifts, or calling a locksmith. The app went live in beta on April 21 and is currently available by invitation only.
The model builds on learnings from Rare Life, an earlier concierge experiment that Swiggy ran on a limited subscription model. While Rare Life never scaled, it gave the company a sandbox for understanding high-end service demand.
Big picture: Swiggy is under pressure to diversify beyond food delivery. Between Swiggy Dineout, Pyng, Scenes, and now Crew, the company is clearly chasing new revenue pools in the lifestyle and experience economy.
The premium concierge space is already crowded, with players like Indulge Global and Quintessentially India, but Swiggy’s scale and logistics muscle could give it a strong edge, if it plays it right.
5. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀
1. Axiscades & Aldoria team up to build India’s spacetech 🛰️
Axiscades Technologies’ shares were buzzing after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with European firm Aldoria.
Axiscades Aerospace & Technologies provides engineering solutions across aerospace, defense, semiconductor & expertise in weapon systems, radar & electronic warfare systems.
Aldoria is a European company that tracks objects and activity in space.
The deets: under the MoU, both organisations will explore opportunities for high-level data and system alignment.
The goal is to provide cutting-edge space tracking systems that can monitor, track, and predict objects in space such as satellites and space debris to enhance India’s space safety and security.
In a parallel update, the company signed another agreement with defense firm Indra to boost production of advanced systems in India.
Axiscades also announced expanding their partnership with MBDA, a European company that designs and develops missile systems. Together, they will set up a new facility with test labs and missile launcher equipment at the Aerospace Park near Bengaluru’s airport.
2. Suzlon’s renewable push with AMPIN deal 💨
Suzlon Energy ended in the green after it secured a third successive order from AMPIN Energy Transition.
AMPIN Energy Transition, a clean energy company builds, manages solar and wind power projects across 22 states, with a total capacity of over 5,000 megawatts.
The reason: Suzlon’s aim is to decarbonise India’s power distribution sector.
The deets: as part of the deal, Suzlon will provide 54 of its advanced S144 wind turbine generators. Each turbine can generate 3.15 megawatts of power and comes with a strong, tall tower design for better performance.
With this, the total orders from AMPIN, bagged by Suzlon, now stand at 303 MW.
The project will be developed in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. Suzlon will handle the entire project from supplying and installing the equipment to getting it up and running, and managing its long-term operations and maintenance.
Why it matters: this project strengthens Suzlon’s presence in India’s renewable energy space. The company has installed over 21.1 GW of wind power worldwide, 15.1 GW of that in India, supporting the country’s goal of reaching 500 GW of non-fossil energy by 2030.
6. Story in data: Loco Lull 📊
India’s railways carried 7.4 billion passengers in FY25, up from just 1.3 billion during the pandemic low in FY21, but still below the 8.4 billion mark hit in FY19.
While traffic has steadily recovered, it hasn’t fully caught up with pre-COVID demand.
Changing travel habits, faster adoption of road and air, and urban migration patterns may be reshaping how India moves.
The good news? Growth is consistent year-on-year, with FY25 clocking the strongest recovery since the slump.
But Indian Railways still has some distance to cover before it returns to full throttle.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
📜 Startup boost: SEBI eases IPO rules for founders as they can now keep ESOPs if granted a year before DRHP filing, supporting smoother listings and better incentives.
🛡️ Massive breach: security researchers uncovered a data leak with 16 billion logins, including Apple accounts & it is possibly one of the biggest ever.
📱 Foxconn frame: Foxconn to begin making iPhone enclosures at a new unit in Oragadam, Tamil Nadu, expanding Apple’s local manufacturing push.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the Monday blues get to you.
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