India Doing Remarkably Well Despite Energy Shortage: Moody's & ICRA Share India Outlook

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]Bulls lead the charge on D Street as Nifty ends above 24,000 after 11 sessions while benchmarks gain over a percent. Volatility index slips 6% in the red. Banking cohort attracts most attention with Bank Nifty outperforming the benchmarks as rupee continues to extend gains and closes at 95.24 against the US dollar.

[00:00:23]Today, Finance Minister Nilmas Sitharaman tells NDTV profit that every suggestion is being counted to help the domestic unit.

[00:00:32]Oil prices fall over 5% as hopes of a US Iran deal eased fears around Hormos supply disruptions though nuclear remains the key sticking point. Brent crude hovering around $97 per barrel.

[00:00:48]OMC's rally after fuel prices hiked for the fourth time within 12 days with the latest hike of over two rupee. Petrol prices have crossed 100 rupee per liter in Delhi. Petroleum ministry officials say OMC under recovery school from 1,000 cr rupees to less than 600 crores.

[00:01:06]US Iran negotiations picks pace Iran foreign minister Abbas Iraqi inqatar for talks while Trump signals progress in talks. In a latest post, he says it will only be a great deal for all or no deal at all.

[00:01:21]Delhi logs highest ever power demand in May crosses 8,000 megawatt mark four times just in 6 days amid intense heat.

[00:01:32]US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Taj Mahel in Agra and Jaipur with wife and delegation on third day of his visit ahead Quad meet tomorrow. Cultural diplomacy on display in Taj Mahel.

[00:01:46]Probe intensifies in Twisha death case.

[00:01:48]CBI said to take over the case. SIT to recreate crime scene. SIT says victim's husband Samart is not cooperating.

[00:01:58]Ha Malani receives Dharmendras Padma Vibushan awarded posimously. Chairperson of Kotak securities UD Kota cricketer Harman Pri and Bengali actor Bosen Ghaty also honored.

[00:02:22]Hello and welcome. This is Profit 360 on NDTV Profit and I'm your host Himak Shihogna. Along the next half an hour, we'll bring you the latest from the markets as well as national and international news. We India's central bank will transfer a record 2.87 87 trillion rupees to the federal government for the last fiscal uh and which is open to industry suggestions and uh you know optimism has also pervaded in the markets today as benchmarks logged gains of over a percent while nifty has crossed 24,000 after 11 sessions the broader market advanced too as a matter of fact barring the FMCG index all other sectors rose in trade the banking cohort especially attracted a Lot of buying interest to await the bank nifty outperforming the benchmarks. Let's get in my colleague Par to join in for a complete roundup of today's market action.

[00:03:16]It was a great day for Nifty after a long time. The index ended up uh almost 1.3% and finally managed to close above the 23,400 mark. Aisha Motors and Adani Enterprises were the top two gainers in Nifty today with Aisha Motors gaining almost 6.5% while Adani Enterprises gaining 4.5% today. The broader market underperformed the benchmark today with Nifty Midcap 150 gaining 0.9% led by Union Bank and Apollo tires both of which were up by almost 4.5%.

[00:03:49]Nifty small cap 250 also gained around 1% which was led by Tagard Rail Systems and Bluejet Healthcare both of which managed to gain over 9.5% for the day.

[00:04:00]Now moving on to the sectoral performance all sectors ended on a green note except Nifty FMCG. Nifty PSU bank was the best performing sector up by over 2%. This was led by Canra Bank and Union Bank both of which were both of which gained over 4% today. Nifty FMCG was on the worst perform on on the worst performing side down almost 0.1% today due to Wun Beverages and Colgate losing over 1.5%.

[00:04:27]And lastly, if we have a look at the sectoral trends, then Nifty FMCG has fallen for the sixth day in a row while Nifty IT snapped its 3-day losing streak. Also, Nifty Metal has gained for the fourth consecutive day while Nifty Auto and Nifty PSU Bank have gained for the fifth consecutive day. Also Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank has gained for the second day in a row.

[00:04:50]>> Thank you so much Par for that market roundup and viewers. Ace investor Vijay Keria is saying that this is not the time to get overconfident in the markets. Speaking as part of NTV profit special town hall interview, Vijayakia has warned that it's still very difficult to confidently say that whether the market has already hit the bottom. And according to him, several global headwinds continue to keep investors on edge. From geopolitical tensions to volatility in the global markets and also concerns around crude oil prices, the risks are far from over.

[00:05:23]Let's listen in to his commentary.

[00:05:28]worst is over. Worst is over.

[00:05:35]Is over.

[00:05:52]market.

[00:06:04]For example, Same picture index.

[00:06:16]>> All right viewers, let's now look at rupee which you know today it strengthened by 40 pesa to 95.2 against the US dollar and also ended at 2 week high of 95.24.

[00:06:29]So the domestic unit has been appreciating against the greenback for the last three trading sessions and this comes in the backdrop of active peace talks between US and Iran. In fact, crude also fell by around 5% as hopes of easing tensions around the straight of hormones poses a big relief. So both international benchmark indices the US WTI and even the Brent have both fallen reports and even the report suggest that there's a possible deal could really reopen the strait and also reduce fears of supply shortages. But analysts are still cautious because several issues remain unresolved including sanctions, security concerns and even the future of Iran's nuclear program.

[00:07:12]But uh given rupee's vulnerability at this given time, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithar Raman told NTV prophet that every input and suggestion will be taken into account. While speaking to the media on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai, my colleague Pew Shukla asked her about what's being done to help the national currency and here's what uh she said.

[00:07:36]dividend how does it help the fist position in terms of you know uh so it uh say any any sort of uh you your expectation on how it will improve the fixed uh fist position and second is on the rupee ma'am we have seen because of situation the currency and RBI has also been very actively trying to support the rupee uh any broader moment that the government you know can do uh sovereign bonders or anything of that form is on the table right >> as I said a lot of inputs A lot of suggestions on now not just on rupee on investment and as you said earlier uh on the gold bond in lots of inputs are being gathered people voluntarily sent some people are collecting from departments we will look into every one of these suggestions petrol and diesel prices have been increased again today by around 2.71 rupee per liter and this is marking the fourth hike in fuel prices across the country. Since the last 11 days, the fuel prices have been increased by 7.5 rupee per liter. My colleague Summit is here to make us really understand its impact on the OMC. Summit's fourth hike in the last 11 days and the second biggest one that we have seen.

[00:08:54]The first biggest hike was the first hike on May 15th where it was 3 rupees per liter. Then couple of times we have seen a hike of around 0.9 rupees per liter. That was on May 19th and May 23rd. And just after two days now we are seeing another hike coming in of around 2.71 rupees per liter on May 25th. So in the last 11 days the prices have been hiked by close to around 7.5 rupees per liter. Now what could be the impact? Why this price hike? Because oil marketing companies were supposed to incur a loss of close to 1 to 1.2 two lakh cr rupees in the first quarter of FI27 because of higher crude oil prices depreciating rupee and unchanged retail fuel prices that is petrol and diesel prices. Now what would be the impact of this price hike coming in on the oil marketing companies that is ICL BPL and HPCL for every 0.5 rupees per liter hike in the petrol and diesel prices the AITA of IOC BPL and HPCL lifts by close to around 7 to 11 odd percent. Now I Indian OMC's have been recouping the losses. Earlier the loss was expected to be around 1,000 rupees 1,000 cr rupees per day which reduced to around 750 cr after the 3 rupees per liter hike. Then the couple of hikes of 0.9 rupees per liter reduced it to further 670 cr rupees on a per day basis of post the 0.9 rupees per liter hike that we had seen for in the last couple of days. And after this 2.71 rupees per liter hike uh this will further reduce the losses for the oil marketing companies by close to around 113 cr rupees per day. And this is around 17% of the daily loss that the oil marketing companies have been seeing. Now these four hikes will help oil marketing companies recoup nearly 44% of the losses that they were incurring at start of the quarter that is close to,000 odd rupees. Also another positive point for the oil marketing companies right now is the fact that crude has slipped below $100 per barrel after many uh days. So that is also coming that could also come in sentimentally positive for the oil marketing companies in trade today.

[00:10:56]>> Absolutely sit. In fact we have the first official comment on the fourth fuel hike from the petroleum ministry itself. Also Jata Sharma, joint secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has said that the under recoveries for oil marketing companies have come down from around 1,000 cr per liter earlier to slightly below 600 crores. Now, however, she also admitted that you know that imports really continue to be impacted because of the ongoing West Asia crisis. Let's listen into her remarks.

[00:11:27]marketing but it is still in slightly less than 600 LPG and professor of economics at sea Columbia University Arvin Panagara believes that India is not necessarily worse off than other countries when it comes to the impact of rising fuel prices and even global inflation pressures. Speaking on the current situation, Panagaria said that he has been talking to friends and family in India to understand how consumers are feeling on the ground and according to him when compared globally, fuel prices in the United States have actually become more expensive. Let's listen into his remarks.

[00:12:22]I wouldn't say that that India is worse off relative to many of the other nations. Uh I have been speaking to my friends and family in India asking them you know what kind of hardship this has caused. Generally speaking you know the I mean my questions are like are there long cues at petrol pumps or something?

[00:12:45]You know is the shortage being reflected in that? Is the shortage being reflected in in massive increase in uh petrol prices? Answers to both the questions have been in the negative. uh in comparison actually where I am in the United States uh during this period uh alone of of the West Asian war uh the uh price of gasoline as it is as petrol is called here uh has gone up from on average $4 to about $6 per gallon that is a 50% increase so even the United States which has good supply of its own gasoline or petrol or crude um has actually allowed the price to rise like that and and the cons and and and the inflation effect in the US has been significantly higher than what it has been in India.

[00:13:40]>> In fact viewers, India's relatively better position was also reflective in the responses we got at the media briefing of Modi's and Ikra. My colleague Riddh Abhattager caught up with Vikas Halan, MD corporate finance at Moody's ratings as well as K. Ravi Chandraan, chief ratings officer, IkRA.

[00:13:58]They spoke to us about India's credit outlook amidst a shifting global and even domestic landscape. Let's listen in.

[00:14:06]>> I'll break it down into two parts. One is the avail of crude, availability of energy as well as the price of energy.

[00:14:14]So India's done remarkably well on both fronts. uh so availability has been ensured compared to rest of the region where we have seen different measures by the government to cut down the consumption or even ration in many cases India has not resorted to that and has been able to fulfill their energy needs so that is a positive uh on the price front as well India has been able to delay the transmission to the consumer for quite a long period of time and that is only started over the last 10 days uh so relative to rest of the world the energy prices in India hasn't gone up as much and inflation is only just about uh increasing so with the inflation now increasing it remains to be seen whether that has an impact on the overall consumption >> uh which are some of the sectors uh right now which could benefit of this and which have been downgraded for now >> uh naturally you know the upstream companies they are the biggest gainers from the oil price rise uh and also unlike the previous years when you know oil prices very high government mopped up the gain through various duties this time upstream oil companies have been allowed to you know charge at the market rates and uh that is helping them to achieve extraordinary profitability. Uh apart from that non-ferris metals is another especially aluminium you know is another uh sector where there are a lot of supply shortages. There are a lot of Middle Eastern based smelters you know who you know who who are not operational at this juncture that has put pressure on the aluminium and some of the non-ferris metals uh companies who are exposed to this particular you know space they're also benefited uh but otherwise majority of other sectors they are you know stressed in some form or the other either through the energy uh pass through or supply chain related you know issues.

[00:16:06]We are switching gears. India's insurance sector is raising the red flag over a new wave of AIdriven cyber security risk. Insur insurers are really warning that mythos like AI tools could emerge as a major threat with concerns around weak monitoring systems, poor asset visibility and even large scale breach risk. And this even as regulators push the firms to tighten their AI cyber frameworks. And for more on this exclusive story, I'm being joined by my colleague Nimit with more details.

[00:16:38]>> So, insurance companies have flagged Mythos and other front-end AI system related risks in cyber security in India today. Uh saying that uh poor asset identification, legacy systems and a lack of continuous ability to monitor these new age threats uh may put their systems at risk. Now remember the Irdai has asked these companies uh across India to submit report to them on what are the measures they are taking for cyber security especially in relation to frontier uh AI programs like mythos. Now remember the biggest risk that they say about mythos is the is that it creates vulnerability chains. So earlier AI used to create uh find bugs or weak points in different systems and try to exploit those. So as soon as you fixed your weak points you were fine. But now what Mythos and other these systems do they identify a chain of uh bugs in your system and you do you may not know that this one is related to the other. So they exploit them together and it now happens within a matter of hours not days. There's no set of planning can even happen in minutes. So for that level of threat insurers say that they are not prepared yet and they are working on it. Now what are the challenges they're facing here? They say that uh while they want to test uh models here and make sure that they get the right model to fit into their AI infrastructure, foreign models come with data localization issues and RBI guidelines also prevent them from being used in certain cases. While a lack of domestic AI systems here, prevents them from using uh systems that are made within India as well to test their platforms and their environments for cyber risks. Now, if they're unable to test those risks, then how will they resolve them? That is essentially the point that they are making. However, the good news is there are insurers are digitalizing rapidly. Of course, cyber security is not moving at the same pace of that digitization which needs to amp up. for digitization rackly and 15 to 20 banks sources say 15 to 20 insurers and banks sources say are exploring AIEL cyber infrastructure and likely in the next 6 months they'll come out and execute their cyber security programs for the modern AI age as we call it can't even call it the AI age anymore >> right uh nit stay with us sebi has also proposed a new framework for option strike prices which are basically the preset price levels at which traders can buy or sell an options contract. So the move is aimed at ensuring that relevant strike prices remain available even during sharp market swings helping trading continue smoothly in volatile conditions. So tell us more on the story as well.

[00:19:19]>> Yes. So what the SEBI has done here it has introduced or proposes to introduce uniformity and standardization across how uh strike prices are framed in an options contract in India. Now uh this might be a little technical to understand. So simply to explain strike prices are those prices used in options contracts which are fixed and you can buy or sell only at those prices. These are predetermined at exchanges and kept.

[00:19:43]But the problem arises in a volatile market and that's why Sebi has taken this move because in a volatile market prices can sometime move up and down very very fast and then the prices that have the strike prices that have already been fixed may be far away from the actual market price making it very difficult for brokers to make or ex or make those options contracts. For example, if you have a 100 rupee uh stock and uh you've set a price at around 90 or 80 as your strike price or 110 as your strike price. But if your price suddenly moves from 100 to 140, which we're seeing a lot of because of spikes, then all the strike prices are way below the actual market price, distorting the market for options contracts. Now what the sebi proposes here is that exchanges make sure that they review their strike prices every day and also introduce intraday strike prices because prices are moving that fast. Now they also say that the framework seeks to ensure trading continuity. So amid volatile markets now this is important to understand like I said in a volatile market it's going to move fast. So trading for trading continuity the strike price needs to be as close to the market price in real time as possible and that is what Sebi is trying to do through this new proposal.

[00:20:56]>> Thank you so much Nimit for getting us those details there. And we are switching gears. Rainbow Children's is now laying out its its expansion road map for FI27. Dr. Romesh Kanchchara, founding chairman of Rainbow Children's Medicare, spoke about the company's expected Capeex plans, the number of new beds likely to be added, and even whether future investments will be driven more by Brownfield or Greenfield expansion. Let's now listen in to what he had to say.

[00:21:24]We have over 900 beds in uh in pipeline for the next two to two and a half years time to come in various stages uh like a kimbaturur gurram pune and uh some spoke hospitals in Bangalore. So these are all going to come in next two and a half years time.

[00:21:45]So the the capex of is kind of for of course gam is a green field large hospitals super hospitals are very different from the uh kind of brownfield hospitals. Brownfields usually it cost about 65 to 70 lakhs per bed and the green fields depends on on the what kind of hospital whether it is oak or up it varies. So we have a capex kind of a next two and a half years. So probably around 700 course capex which is for the projects in the uh for uh 900 beds.

[00:22:22]>> We home services apps are drawing clear privacy lines around inh home recordings and even AI usage. So while Pronto says that its camerabased pilot runs only on customer consent with strict privacy safeguards. Nabbit and urban company have ruled out any inhome recording plans. Now the debate now centers around customer trust, data security and even privacy. So my colleague Ryma is joining us with more details on this.

[00:22:51]Home services app draw in on privacy concerns on in-house recording and AI usage. So, Pronto has said that it started with its pilot in-house recording when customers had requested it that they would like their services to be done when they were not in house and that the customers opted for this service and they knew that the professionals will be wearing a GoPro camera while giving services in their houses and that only the hands were recorded while cleaning utensils. The company has clarified and that no audio was recorded and in fact even the faces and the objects were blurred for privacy concerns. and they said that the footage was only available up to 48 hours after which it was deleted and they do not plan to share this footage with any other third parties. Now the peers in the space include Snabit and Urban Company. Snabit has clarified that they do not plan to use such in-house recording services technology in the coming time as well and they haven't done it so far as well and that customer trust and privacy is absolute for them.

[00:23:51]Urban company has also reiterated that they do not plan to use such services in the future and that customer trust and privacy also is uh paramount for them.

[00:24:00]Now we have to keep a close eye on the commentary by the government on this one. As technology progresses there could be concerns for privacy for this case.

[00:24:09]>> Thank you so much Rodima for that. And viewers, Delhi's power demand is surging to record levels this summer. The capital has clogged a peak power demand of 8,439 megawws which is the highest ever for the month of May as rising temperatures drive up the electricity consumptions across the city. In fact, Delhi has already crossed the 8,000 megawatt mark four times in just 6 days. Even though May 2025 never saw demand reach that level. So data from the SLDC shows that power demand this May has been higher than last year on most of the days with peak load now expected to cross 9,000 megawws this summer. So despite the record consumption, no major power outages have been reported across uh you know the areas.

[00:24:58]And viewers, let's turn our attention to Iran war where peace hopes may be finally materializing. US President Donald Trump has struck a cautious note on the ongoing talks with Iran, saying that negotiations are progressing well, but it will only be a great deal for all or no deal at all. Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Iraqi is inqatar for peace talks and if finalized, the agreement could really ease tensions in the straight of Hormuz and also stabilize global energy supplies. And Iran has also said that the nuclear issues will be addressed once a formal understanding is reached. And in the interim during his India visit, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have told, you know, he's told NDTV that Washington still prefers a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Let's listen in.

[00:25:49]>> It went the way it always does and that's very positive. you know, the the foundation of the relationship between our countries now, and obviously a lot of it is enduring as well, is the relationship between the president, President Trump and and Prime Minister Modi, and it dates back to the first administration under Trump. And so, I think that always makes it easier to have these meetings because of the personal affinity they have to one another. But we have so much alignment on so many issues. And really as I've said and I just said a moment ago speaking to our embassy staff here uh one of the cornerstones of our approach towards the Indoacific considering ourselves a Pacific nation by the way is is the relationship with India which has only grown it's grown in the financial realm and I think there are other opportunities for us. So as much as anything else, it is a visit uh to continue to build on a relationship that's finding new areas of potential cooperation and co-production even in defense on on on uh on technology on the investments mutual investments in each other's countries with over 20 billion dollars of Indian companies now invested in the United States. So >> switching gears now viewers, President Draati Murmu conferred the Padma awards to 66 recipients at Rashraati Bhavan recognizing individuals for their distinguished contributions across a wide range of fields. Some of the top awardees included late legendary actor Dhandra, advertising legend late Push Pande Ud Kotak and women's cricket team captain Herman Prior. Emotional Ham Malini received the Padma Vibushan on behalf of late actor Dhindra Singh.

[00:27:20]During the ceremony, Aana Deol who was seated with her husband Vora got emotional when her father Dhandra's name was announced and the remaining Spadma wardies will be conferred in the second round of the ceremony to be held late.

[00:27:40]And with that, it's a wrap on this edition of Profit 360. Viewers, stay tuned to NetV Profit for more news and updates.