Tech veteran has a mixed quarter

Qcommerce craze, Ferrero acquires Kellogs, and more IPOs.

Jul 11, 2025

🗓 Morning, folks!

Markets hit the snooze button again on Thursday. Both Nifty and Sensex slipped nearly 0.5%, as investors played it safe ahead of President Trump’s next tariff volley and the kickoff of earnings season.

TCS’s Q1 results didn’t help, keeping IT stocks on edge and dragging sentiment further into the red. No clear winners across sectors either, just a whole lot of wait-and-watch.

💡 Spotlight: India is hooked on 10-minute deliveries.

Quick-commerce spending doubled to ₹64,000 crore in FY25, and it’s not slowing down. By FY28, order values could triple to ₹2 lakh crore.

Revenue from platform fees? Up from just ₹450 crore in FY22 to over ₹10,000 crore now, expected to cross ₹34,000 crore in three years.

The big unlock? Higher fees, smarter inventory, and a shift to ads, subscriptions, and private labels. Quick commerce is no longer burning cash, it’s cooking margins.

1 Big thing: TCS Q1 tops profit, misses revenue 💰

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) kicked off the Q1 FY26 earnings season with a mixed bag including strong profits and margins, but a slight revenue miss.

By the numbers:

Net profit rose 6% YoY to ₹12,760 crore
Revenue grew 1.3% YoY to ₹63,437 crore
Operating margin improved to 24.5% from 24.2%

Operating margin shows how much profit a company makes after covering its basic running costs like salaries, rent, and tech expenses.

Headcount update: TCS added 6,071 employees during April–June 2025, taking the total to 6,13,069. The rise was both sequential and annual.

Meanwhile, employee attrition ticked up to 13.8% from 13.3% in Q4 FY25.

Attrition rate simply means how many people left the company during the year.

Deal wins: the company bagged $9.4 billion in new deals this quarter which was a dip from the $12.2 billion total contract value (TCV) it reported in Q4 FY25.

TCV stands for Total Contract Value which is the full worth of all deals signed, spread over their duration.

TCS management noted that slower demand had been expected, and softness in the first half of FY26 was baked into their outlook.

Such softness is mostly not expected at a time when the broader market expects AI driven services to drive explosive growth and upside revenue surprises. Looks like markets will have to wait.

2. Partners Group backs MSME lender Infinity 💸

Infinity Fincorp, a Mumbai-based NBFC focused on small business lending, is getting a major capital boost.

The deets: Swiss investment giant Partners Group is acquiring a majority stake in the company for ~$230 million. The deal includes ₹600 crore in fresh equity and a secondary buyout of shares from existing investors.

What Infinity does: it lends to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are typically underserved by traditional banks. Infinity manages over ₹1,200 crore in assets and operates 120+ branches across eight states, mostly in Tier 3 towns and semi-rural India.

It serves 50,000+ customers in agriculture, manufacturing, and trading sectors, where informal lending still dominates.

The why: India’s MSME credit gap is pegged at ₹33 trillion and rising fast. NBFCs like Infinity are filling this gap with more flexible, localised lending.

While we are on acquisitions,

Ferrero is acquiring WK Kellogg Co in a $3.1 billion deal and taking it private.

The chocolate giant, best known for Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, and Butterfinger, will pay $23 per share to acquire the US cereal maker.

The move brings iconic breakfast brands like Special K, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, and Rice Krispies under Ferrero’s umbrella.

Once the deal closes later this year, WK Kellogg will be delisted from the NYSE and become a wholly owned subsidiary.

3. Petronet gasses it up 🔥

Petronet LNG signed a ₹1,200 crore regasification agreement with Performance Chemiserve Ltd, a Deepak Fertilisers subsidiary.

Petronet LNG is India’s largest importer and regasifier of liquefied natural gas, supplying clean fuel to power, industry, and city gas networks.

Regasification is the process of turning liquefied natural gas (LNG) back into gas so it can be used for power, heating, or industrial use.

Context: this follows an earlier LNG supply tie-up between Deepak Fertilisers and Norway’s Equinor. Now, Petronet enters as the local regasification partner in the chain.

The regasified gas will be used in Deepak Fertilisers’ Taloja manufacturing unit.

Why it matters: the deal could bring Petronet an extra 20% revenue over its lifetime and boost long-term business visibility.

In a sector where input cost volatility can wreak havoc on margins, this deal locks in both fuel availability and long-term price visibility. That’s a major win for Deepak’s integrated strategy of moving from gas → ammonia → chemicals.

It also reinforces India’s push to de-risk fuel supply for core industries through infrastructure like Petronet’s terminals, while giving players like Deepak the confidence to double down on domestic manufacturing.

4. Aggcon gears up for IPO 🚧

Infrastructure equipment rental firm Aggcon Equipments International has filed draft papers with SEBI for its IPO.

The deets: the ₹332 crore public issue includes a fresh issue of shares and an offer-for-sale of 94 lakh shares by promoters.

About the biz: based in Haryana, Aggcon rents out infrastructure equipment for projects across India. It has a customer base of 500+ spread across 27 states and five Union Territories, supporting roads, bridges, and other infra segments.

By the numbers: revenue jumped nearly 20% in FY25 to ₹164 crore, while profits climbed over 35% to ₹30.7 crore. Motilal Oswal is the lead banker on the deal.

Zoom out: as India’s infra push intensifies, demand for rental equipment is booming, and Aggcon is betting its fleet on that growth.

1. Enviro Infra JV’s ₹395 crore clean energy play ✅

Enviro Infra Engineers shares jumped nearly 4% after the company, along with its joint venture with AltoraPro infrastructure, secured an order worth ₹395 crore.

The project is awarded by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation.

The deets: the JV has received a Letter of Intent for a project involving the design, supply, installation, construction, testing, commissioning, and maintenance of a Common Effluent Treatment Plant.

This is Enviro Infra’s third major order in under three weeks.

Big picture: with regulatory focus on pollution control and sustainable industrial development, such projects offer long-term growth visibility for players like Enviro Infra Engineers.

What else are we snackin’ 🍿

🍪 Browser wars: OpenAI is gearing up to launch an AI-powered browser to take on Google Chrome in the coming weeks.

🚀 Chip surge: Nvidia hit $4 trillion in market cap for the first time as AI-fueled investor demand pushed the stock higher.

📈 Banker blitz: ICICI Prudential AMC roped in a record 18 merchant bankers for its upcoming IPO which is most ever for an Indian listing in recent times.

And that’s a wrap. Pour yourself an extra one this weekend.

We’ll be back like clockwork on Monday!

Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.