Sensex Crashes Over 1,000 Points, Nifty Below 23,550; IT & Banking Stocks Drag | CNBC TV18

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:03]Stocks will turn the selling pressure with mid caps bearing the brunt as rupee plumbs a new low. IT and realty are the big drags while energy and metals not something.

[00:00:16]The stock of billion brains garage ventures the promoter of discount brokerage grows lumps on selling of near 5% stake while block deals worth over 5600 crore rupees after the post IPO lock in for 68% of its equity ends.

[00:00:31]The government revises the royalty structure for oil and gas producers aimed at incentivizing production and investment at a time when energy supplies have become critical due to the Iran war and the CP gains for ONGC and oil driving up those stocks.

[00:00:52]After Anthropic's partnership with global investment firms of four serving businesses now open AI has floated a company with 19 partners focused on the enterprise segment. The move sparks fears of a further hit for Indian IT.

[00:01:10]And Uday Kotak says raw power is becoming the rule of life as the world reverts to a tribal mindset. He adds that the control of assets and a country's balance sheet will be key in determining a nation's future.

[00:01:30]Hello and welcome to a half time report live from the CNBC-TV18 Motilal Oswal studio. I'm Ekta Batra with me Sonal Bhutra and Vinnie Motivala. Well, it's turning out to be a session. We are seeing pressure come to new for our markets. So currently we're below 23,600 for the Nifty down around 230 odd points and for the mid cap index a marginal underperformance is what we're seeing.

[00:01:52]So down around 1.3% currently for the mid cap index. It is definitely the rupee which is weighing in terms of sentiment as well. Remember, we've seen continuous relentless selling from the FIIs and today we have the rupee which is under pressure again. So, 95.54 is currently where the rupee is at. For the Bank Nifty separately, we're down around 1.0% so overall the asset class is under pressure in today's trading session.

[00:02:16]Geopolitics is probably continuously weighing on sentiment at this point. Hi girls. Hey girls, good afternoon. That's been the big talking point. There's no change in that. Of course, from an India perspective there have been a lot of changes in the energy policy. First, that commentary coming in from or the advisory coming in from Prime Minister Modi on fuel conservation. Then we did have uh the royalty change or royalty cuts on oil and gas production. That's leading to a big surge in these oil producers, the likes of ONGC and Oil India. In fact, the entire energy basket in the Nifty is doing well. So, that's the reason why Nifty Oil and Gas is one of the big gainers in terms of sectoral moves. But other than that, it's all red on the screen. Uh something that we'll be watching out for and we do have some address coming in uh from Hardeep Singh Puri as well. We'll be cutting across to that in just a bit.

[00:03:04]But uh it's a power-packed show today, Vinny. Absolutely a power-packed show today and we'll watch out for those commentaries that will start shortly from Hardeep Singh Puri.

[00:03:13]But on the show, what do we have for y'all? We're going to be putting the spotlight on the IT sector in our What's Trending segment as Open AI enters that consulting and service business and uh the track on terms of how this will be going to impact uh our Indian companies in terms of the IT sector. We'll also bring you a conversation with the management of Privi Specialty Chemicals on the back of that Q4 earnings and the outlook for the company going forward.

[00:03:38]And in our commodities corner segment, Manisha Gupta will be speaking with uh Kirit [music] Bansal of GJEPC and put focus on gold again. So, that's what we'll be discussing through the show as well. But uh yes, uh let's cut across to Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri speaking at the CII annual business summit. Listen in.

[00:03:58]Which is so heavily into energy.

[00:04:03]And there's some popular misconception that we are only energy importers. Hey, please, we're also the third largest refiner in the world. We're also the fourth largest exporter in the world.

[00:04:15]Somebody uh mentioned to me the other day, you know, it was in an in a governmental meeting and I got a little worried, you know, we are still exporting such large amounts.

[00:04:25]So, I had to say, and why am I saying this to you? Because I want to start this session with you in order to do some narrative correction. There are a lot of myths going around. Lot of myths going around.

[00:04:42]I just read a piece on the way here in the car, which says, "India has stopped importing in India refused to import an LNG consignment from the Russian Federation." I mean, we've never imported LNG from Russia.

[00:04:57]Or that this is happening because there's a major lockdown coming.

[00:05:01]Please, please, let me just set some basic, you know, this false narratives which are put out by vested interests. I'm sorry I'm being so harsh.

[00:05:11]They need to be debunked and removed.

[00:05:15]First of all, how did we manage the last 75 days?

[00:05:18]If I remember correctly and I have my colleagues sitting here, we haven't raised prices for the last 4 years.

[00:05:25]We're the only country in the world.

[00:05:29]Somebody said, After 22, 2022 was the last time we raised prices.

[00:05:41]There has been been the general election in 2024. There have been elections in state government.

[00:05:47]It's okay, it's not my case that prices will not go up. I'm saying the two are unrelated.

[00:05:52]What you said about you made a reference to the last day and a half. Before I come to that, let me say that our management of the energy system Yes, when the Strait [snorts] of Hormuz closed, I must tell you as a student of history, one who has followed I was a professional diplomat for 39 years. We always spoke in terms of the likelihood or possibility of the Strait of Hormuz closing down.

[00:06:25]But we are for the first time facing that reality.

[00:06:28]And 20% of global energy used to come from the Strait of Hormuz.

[00:06:33]We are Yes, we are 85% of our imports of crude.

[00:06:42]Some percentage, large percentage used to come from there. But more important, our LPG, the cylinder gas which you use in kitchens.

[00:06:55]About 60% used to come from the Strait of Hormuz.

[00:06:59]Now, we had to make arrangements and look and behold, I mean, it's I'm amazed at what we were able to do.

[00:07:07]Our domestic production of LPG prior to the crisis was 35 or 36 thousand metric tons per day.

[00:07:19]We ramped up our domestic production from 36 to 54,000 metric ton. THIS BY ITSELF IS A mind-boggling I think.

[00:07:29]Look, I've been around. I have traveled the world over.

[00:07:35]39 years I was a professional diplomat in the foreign service. I spent five years international think tanking. I've been a minister for 9 years.

[00:07:44]Tell me any one country where prices have remained the same and there has been no shortage anywhere.

[00:07:50]In spite of the best efforts of some people to trying to black market and raise false spreading rumors.

[00:08:01]Rumor mongering shortage on the way shortage on the way so you can do it.

[00:08:04]During this crisis our energy consumption has actually gone up.

[00:08:10]If I looked at some statistics which my colleagues gave me yesterday petrol consumption has gone up by 6% in a crisis. There have been no shortages anywhere in the world.

[00:08:22]dry outs Every petrol pump in the country has at petrol diesel LPG supply is more than enough.

[00:08:31]We have done some good things. We've ramped up LPG production.

[00:08:37]Brought consumption down a little.

[00:08:38]Partly it's due to the weather also. But it used to be I think 90,000 metric tons per day. Today is about 75. I think it'll come down to 72. But the good news is we are no longer import dependent on that. Our refineries and that is where really our strength has come from.

[00:08:56]We have 260 million metric tons per annum refining capacity. We're taking to 270. Our refineries have produced more and more LPG.

[00:09:07]I am now I've given you a somewhat long-winded thing to say what we've done because you were made the mistake of asking me how were the last 75 days. Every day I spend an hour and a half with the CMDs of my oil companies in war session.

[00:09:21]No problem on the supply management side. No shortage anywhere. And I'm going to conclude this by saying we have 60 days of crude which is the maximum we need. We have 60 days of LNG and we have 45 days of LPG.

[00:09:38]So, there's no problem on the supply side. So, why this panic since yesterday or day and a half?

[00:09:43]Please see what the honorable Prime Minister has actually said.

[00:09:47]And let's not put a bizarre construct on it. He's saying and look, this is borne out by the facts. If you look at the news this morning, the leader of the largest economy in the world is saying that ceasefire is um um on life support. I think those are the exact words he used. I don't know what is happening, but isn't it time when you look at the way this is happening 75 days into a uh unending conflict, uncertainty is too mild a word.

[00:10:19]What he says is time has come for us to look at our lifestyle also, and I totally endorse that. By the way, it's not that any lockdown is going to take place tomorrow. If I That's why I spent so much time giving you the supply situation. But, surely if you look at the fiscal situation, if you look at the fact that my oil companies are losing what? 1,000 crores every day?

[00:10:44]That the under recovery is going to be what? 198,000 crores?

[00:10:51]2 lakh crores nearly?

[00:10:53]The losses are what? 1 lakh crore if you look at the quarter.

[00:10:58]In that context, how long can you keep it like this?

[00:11:04]Where is the oil? It used to be at around $64 or $65. I have my statistics here. Gone up to 115 in that basket.

[00:11:13]So, isn't it time for all of us? The fact that you can have this Of course, you're immensely popular, the CII, but you can have this fantastic gathering here. Everybody's Many people have flown in. Many people are the roads. I don't see any energy Yeah.

[00:11:28]problem. No, I think we we must compliment uh uh the the government for handling uh the quantity side of it because that's what is in your control. Uh and while it's for the first few days there was panic, uh but I think gradually people realized that it's under control. So, I think on behalf of all of us here, thank you very much for the very very deft management of the entire situation.

[00:11:56]I just want to keep carrying on. Uh towards the end of the conversation, you you mentioned that the oil marketing companies are losing 30,000 crores uh a month. Uh as they manufacture more LPG uh without I mean, they're obviously allocating their capacity towards LPG uh rather than to petrochemicals, which I'm presuming give a better yield uh as compared to producing LPG.

[00:12:23]Uh how long do you think it'll be possible for refining companies and government of India to take all the load of increased prices.

[00:12:36]Uh in some ways demand not coming down, people not being aware, uh the prime minister exhorting people to be more responsible is great. But at some stage, some of that pricing pressure will come to the average consumer.

[00:12:53]What what What is What is the government's view on this? What's your view on this?

[00:12:58]Uh we were having a conversation before this on some of these issues. People had different views on the subject. So, it'd be good to get your perspective on this.

[00:13:07]You can get my perspective, but you know, I don't want to be pompous to say that uh that's the government's view. I mean, the government is I'm a small cog in a uh in the government wheel, but uh let me come to uh to try and uh uh give you the flavor, give you an answer which is able to capture the flavor of what is going on. Somebody whispered to me when I was coming in here, he said, you know, till the Prime Minister made that statement yesterday, many people didn't know that there was a war going on. And they didn't realize that the war had been going on for 75 days.

[00:13:43]I think hand it out to the Prime Minister. He's made a visionary statement saying, "Look, if this continues, you have to start thinking in terms of measures that will require to be taken to lessen the fiscal strain. That is the point. And you know, I been a trade negotiator, you use terms in the context of climate change negotiation, mitigation and adaptation. I mean, the time has come for us to also look at those things. Some of the other things that said, they've been said by our leaders over decades. You know, when I was young, our then Prime Minister used to say, "It stares you in the face."

[00:14:24]If, for instance, now, when will How long will the oil companies be enabled to take it?

[00:14:29]Frankly, that's something that worries me.

[00:14:32]I mean, there have been times when the oil companies have done exceptionally well till recently.

[00:14:40]Uh but the rate at which we are going this one quarter of losses may wipe out the entire profit after tax of last year, which was what, about 28 billion dollars or something? If I If I remember figures correctly, it can be wiped out. Now, all right, you can say, "Companies will make money, companies will lose money." But no, these are good corporate citizens.

[00:15:00]They're taking a loss in order for the consumer to be insulated. I wish I could say this for everyone in the game. I cannot.

[00:15:09]Now, coming back to your question, how long can this happen? At some stage, the government will have to take a view on that. But the Prime Minister's reaching out to the country yesterday was in to draw people's attention to what has been happening so far and how long will this continue? I will I could argue that the price of you have a ceasefire which is entrenched, which goes into like Strait of Hormuz open, the price of oil which is what in 116 or something in that basket comes down from 116 to 70 or something.

[00:15:48]Well, you may not have to take any hard measures. But on the other hand, you know, you would be failing in your in the discharge minister. And the most important one being that he indicated that he's not saying there'll be no price hikes, but there's no correlation between price hikes and elections getting over. Also indicated that all marketing companies cannot keep taking losses on their P&L and already quarter one losses are as high that it could actually wipe off FY26 profits from 28 billion dollars for the entire industry.

[00:16:18]Some very important comments indicated the stocks that we have 60 days for crude and LNG, 45 days for LPG and how we've increased LPG production as well in the last few days. So, those are some important comments coming in. All these oil marketing companies are at the day's low. But yes, the big trigger for all these companies will be the price hike that would come by because big losses of course, that is something we have been tracking. So, there's some recovery.

[00:16:43]We'll have to see which way things go now. Yes, absolutely. And I just want to add that you know, the Hardeep Singh Puri did mention very specifically that the Prime Minister has been reaching out to the country yesterday and you know, couple of days to draw people's attention to what has been taking place. So, there's no fear of a lockdown or any kind of rumors. Those should be discarded at this point in time and it is basically to draw attention to the situation and to take measures in order to lessen the fiscal losses at this point in time based on what is taking place on the West Asia crisis. So, important statements which have come in from uh Hardeep Singh Puri at this point. We'll take a short break on that note, uh but up next, we'll also bring you a conversation with the management of Privi Specialty Chemicals on the back of their Q4 numbers.

[00:17:42]Welcome back. You're still tuned into Halftime Report. Uh let's talk about an earnings conversation now. Privi Specialty Chemicals reported a good set of quarter four uh numbers. The company's profits saw 47% uptick, but margins expanded on a YOY basis. I caught up with the chairman and MD, Mahesh P. Babani, and started off by asking about their FY27 guidance. Listen into a slice of that conversation.

[00:18:03]These numbers, guidance we had given and we achieved our business plan.

[00:18:07]The future, I will tell you is uh looking pretty good.

[00:18:11]And it has a minimal effect on our businesses.

[00:18:15]Our businesses are recession recession resistant.

[00:18:19]>> [clears throat] >> So, you know, because we touch that daily life of every individual. We manufacture aroma chemicals, so which you cannot neglect. You have to have a shower, you have to wash your clothes.

[00:18:31]They are probably existing in every brand that you use.

[00:18:35]We don't have our own brand, but we do exist in every brand because we have mostly all the companies on our customer list.

[00:18:45]So, we are confident that we'll be able to achieve 20% growth this year. And with a growth also similar to guidance what we had given.

[00:18:57]Okay. So, 20% growth is what you're expecting in FY27. Uh that is uh that is something that the investors would like.

[00:19:05]But if I can take a take this question forward, you said there has been no impact because the products that you produce are used across various categories. But on the supply side, I want to understand what's happening with raw material pricing. Crude sulfate turpentine, you have gum turpentine oil.

[00:19:21]Is this a derivative of crude oil prices? Since we've seen that big increase, has that impacted pricing in any way?

[00:19:31]Yes, we do see shortage of raw material for sure and disturbances in the supply chain.

[00:19:38]But even the prices are very high, but fortunately for us, our business strategy has been that we do 65% back-to-back. So, we cover our raw material 65% from our sources and we balance 35% business is any day on spot or non-non-core customer. 65% of the business is always tied up from the beginning of the year and we are confident that we'll be able to maintain the margin in spite of disturbances. The prices are at all-time high for sure.

[00:20:13]I've never seen raw material prices impact so much, but we are yet confident that we have raw materials enough to feed our customers. Okay. So, you maintain the 24% margin band that you saw in FY26, you'll be able to do that in FY27 as well?

[00:20:31]For sure. For sure. Okay. Okay.

[00:20:33]Okay. So, you know, you do have a couple of capacities lined up. There's capacity expansion of 18,000 in FY27.

[00:20:41]For new products, there's another 36,000 coming by in FY29 as well.

[00:20:45]How will it add to your P&L? Are these high margin products as well?

[00:20:50]Uh These are all the similar margin products and we are confident that we we we given a guidance in our earnings call that we'll be a 5K 5,000 crore sales with 1,000 plus of EBITDA. We are confident in the next 3 years we'll be able to achieve a 5,000 crore revenue and a 1,000 plus EBITDA, which will have similar margins if you calculate backwards or forward.

[00:21:21]We will be able to maintain similar EBITDA and we'll be able to achieve our number of 5 year 1K very confidently. Okay, so you sound very, very confident.

[00:21:33]Uh so how are you funding this CapEx, Mr. Babani? I know you have spoken about it earlier, but for viewers watching us now, uh is it an external debt or do you have enough internal accruals for you to do that? And this 5,000 crore number that you said, it happens after 3 years at peak utilization. Am I correct?

[00:21:49]Yeah. Within 3 to 4 years max.

[00:21:53]Because you know, you have some banana peels at some time. But we are confident in 3 years we'll be able to achieve it as we've maintained our 20% CAGR since last 20 years.

[00:22:03]So we are confident that we will be able to do this. The The The CapEx will be funded from by internal accruals and a maximum borrowing of 3 400 crores going forward.

[00:22:14]Maximum we'll be able to do uh 300 400 crores of borrowing because of some inflation, because of the war.

[00:22:23]It'll be 300 or 400 maximum of debt and we'll be able to achieve these numbers from internal accruals and borrowing of 3 400 crores. So going forward in 5 year 1K we'll have we'll have these numbers coming in. Take that point. Uh what is the timeline on merger of Privi Fine Sciences and Privi Bio Technologies? Privi Fine Sciences is a company which was uh developed from Privi. It was an offshoot of Privi, which we are bringing in right now.

[00:22:56]So we have developed certain molecules there which we hope to commercialize and started commercializing. This year we'll have about revenues of about 130 to 150 crores and this will be worth this year.

[00:23:12]Refine Sciences by and approval of merger is already coming from BSE and NSE. It's lying on the NSE It's lying in the NCLT books right now.

[00:23:23]We are confident we'll be able to merge this before the end of the year.

[00:23:27]Okay, take that point. So, you sound very confident on the outlook going forward maintaining 20% revenue growth, 24% EBITDA margins. You are very confident on the business, but uh in the last quarter there was an exchange filing where the promoters did sell around 6% stake. What is the reason for that and is there more coming from the promoter side?

[00:23:45]Well, let me tell you, ma'am, it was not 6%. It was 11.23%.

[00:23:51]We sold 11.23% and we did this to improve the liquidity in the market.

[00:23:56]And you know, we hold over 70%.

[00:23:59]Today also, after telling this, we have over 60.6% or 60.7%.

[00:24:08]>> [clears throat] >> Going forward, we I had to complete my personal obligations.

[00:24:14]As you know, I acquired this company from a large investor to take a majority stake, uh which was in 2000 and 20 and 21.

[00:24:26]So, I've taken certain debt.

[00:24:29]So, I had to complete the obligations of the debt.

[00:24:33]So, going forward, I don't think so we have any plans to sell more, but going forward, we are confident that in the future to maintain our majority is always above 55, 60.

[00:24:51]Okay, yeah. That's a word coming in from the management of previous specialty. As of now, the stock is still trading with cuts of uh 4 and 1/2% in the trading session. So, we'll watch out for that.

[00:25:01]But, on that note, we're going to slip into a very short break. After the break, uh we'll have Rima who'll be putting the spotlight on the IT sector as well. Open AI's foray into the service industry and its impact on the Indian IT sector will be key to understand. Stay tuned in for that.

[00:25:35]Welcome back to Halftime Report on CNBC-TV18. The markets have come off from when we started the show as well, right? Further more decline that we're seeing now. 23,550 around that mark is what the Nifty is trading at at the day's lowest point. Uh bit more of a downtick in the last few minutes that we're seeing coming in as well. 1.2% decline for the Nifty. Now, especially in the last uh 30 minutes, what's uh given up the gains from the broader end of the market also. Ramakrishna Forgings, Transformers and Rectifiers, Kirloskar Oil, all of them are seeing a further fall coming in in the market.

[00:26:05]Even uh the mid-cap is trading at the day's lowest point as of now. And obviously, sector-wise that we uh continue to put the spotlight on is going to be at the IT sector as well.

[00:26:13]That continues to be under pressure. The top sectoral loser today is coming in the Nifty IT sector. Realty and continues to be under pressure. The only green spot amongst the sector is the Nifty Metals pack, which is managing to hold on to some bit of a gain as well.

[00:26:28]So, that is holding on to mild positive in the trading session. But, uh yes, on that note, we're going to slip into a very short break. And then, we'll be putting the spotlight on the IT sector, which is the top sectoral loser today, to understand what's happening from the Open AI front. Uh the foray into the service industry, its impact on Indian IT sector, we'll talk about all of that.

[00:26:58]>> Welcome back. You're still tuned in to Halftime Report on CNBC-TV18. Let's focus on what's trending today, and that is the IT space. Global AI giant OpenAI has officially set foot in the services industry with the OpenAI deployment company or deploy code. This, of course, has triggered fresh concerns for the Indian IT companies because the belief is that companies like OpenAI AI may look to bypass firms like our IT bellwethers Wipro and Infosys and deploy tools made by its own company. Let's understand and let uh let's go across to Reema, who's going to break it down for us. Reema, over to you. Thanks so much for that. This launch of an OpenAI deployment company is indeed an important shift in the AI landscape.

[00:27:41]Because these companies are now moving from model as a service to implementation as a service. So, on 11th of May, OpenAI launched on what it calls the OpenAI deployment company, a new enterprise services firm. And the structure is formidable. There are 19 global investment partners. It's led by TPG, but it has Bain Capital, it has Advent, it has Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, Warburg Pincus, it has consulting firms like Bain & Co, McKinsey, um you know, and Capgemini. And these are not just investors, they are partners. And to hit ground running from day one, OpenAI also yesterday acquired Tomorrow, which is an AI consulting firm, and it immediately brings on board 150 forward deployment engineers and enterprise clients including Tesco, Virgin Atlantic, and Metal. Now, this follows Anthropic's own move just 7 days earlier on 4th of May. Basically, the landscape has shifted in a span of 1 week when Anthropic launched a similar AI native enterprise services company backed by Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs, Apollo General, GIC, Sequoia Capital. Now, the question is why does all this matter for the Indian IT companies? Now two reasons. The first one is access. Open AI and Anthropic both have PE partners. PE partners collectively sponsor thousands of portfolio companies. The question is and the industry is asking can a PE firm which has tie-ups directly now with Open AI and Anthropic, can they mandate an Open AI first or a Claude first deployment across the entire portfolio?

[00:29:14]Basically bypassing the traditional IT vendor entirely. You know the request for proposal maybe now will in the future become a formality. So that's reason number one, access to portfolio companies. And the second one is contextual knowledge. For Indian IT companies moat was always deep long-standing client relationships. Now you've got consulting partners like McKinsey and Bain which sit inside DeployCo. So they can easily design an AI native workflow and own the strategy layer. You know we've had so many discussions with Indian IT companies over the last many months. We keep asking them about the AI impact and risk and your answer's always been the same.

[00:29:52]You know we are needed because we understand a client's messy legacy infrastructure. So what we will do is we use the AI model, we'll drive the outcome and own the risk. And owning the risk is important, right? Who takes the responsibility when something goes wrong? But now you take an example of what Open AI has done, right? With the Tomorrow acquisition and the 150 engineers that it brings on board, these AI engineers are directly embedded inside the client's organization. So they will identify the opportunity coupled with the knowledge that the consulting companies bring in, redesign the workflows and ship production systems at scale using agentic AI. So the fear is that Open AI and Anthropic will capture the strategy and design layer of the project and maybe and you know this is just pure fear but the fear in the market is that maybe the Indian IT companies will be left with sort of the run the business kind of a work.

[00:30:42]Um but then you will ask that question, right? Because Indian IT companies themselves have positioned themselves as this AI first. They've got partnerships with these big tech companies. You remember Infosys is partner with both Open AI and Anthropic. They've integrated Codex into their Topaz AI platform. They are, you know, building the cloud powered agents. So, I spoke to a few analysts, and the view is that, you know, every company has a direct channel partner, direct, you know, direct channel sales, and partnership sales, which is what's happening may happen with Open AI and Claude, right?

[00:31:11]They will directly reach out to the enterprises, maybe mid-market right now, but they will also tie up with these IT companies and do the partnership models.

[00:31:18]But, you know, this is truly, it seems like a pivotal moment because Anthropic and Open AI themselves are creating services companies that can transform business processes. Big tech has very deep pockets. The biggest right now, the deepest pockets that we have right now, and therefore I think the fear is the potential for disruption this time is real, and they're slowly encroaching down into the Indian IT services forte.

[00:31:41]Okay, that's comprehensive. Thank you so much, Rima, for explaining these updates that are coming by. Indian IT continues to be in focus, and so does these investments in AI. In fact, we caught up with Srikant Velamakanni of Fractal Analytics. He says they're moving from input-driven to output-driven models to drive margins. Listen into that.

[00:32:01]Most of this has come from moving from input-based models to outcome output-driven models, which are five to seven points higher margin, and all license revenues are even 25-30 points higher in terms of margin. As we change the mix of business from input to output, all of the gross margin level leverage is coming from that. Not very little is coming from pricing-related advantages, and almost nothing is is coming from other aspects that you just mentioned. So, overall, it is about moving from input-driven models to output-driven models, and we expect to continue that, and so we expect to grow faster, expand margins, and use some of the expanded margins into spending on R&D. Today, about 40% of our revenues come from input-based models, and sorry, actually 60% of our revenues come from input-based models, and 40% come from output outcome license-driven revenue models. This 60 will drop to 40 or even under that, and that's the transformation that we are seeing. It could go down even further as well.

[00:33:01]Now, let's shift focus to the commodity segment as well, right? We have Mr. Bunsali, chairman of GJEPC, joining in for the commodity conversation. And Manisha is here to take us through the conversation on gold, precious metals, what's happening there?

[00:33:16]Well, absolutely. We're still reacting to what the Prime Minister Modi has talked about in sense of not buying gold and gold jewelry for the next 1 year.

[00:33:22]And Mr. Bunsali would want your reaction to that. Well, clearly the current account deficit is a concern, and so is the fact that the rupee has been under pressure. How have you seen the Prime Minister's statement, and how are you reacting as an industry to that?

[00:33:36]So, Manisha, good afternoon, first of all. See, the Prime Minister has given the statement with lot of things.

[00:33:42]And as a responsible citizen, gem and jewelry sector supports Prime Minister's appeal.

[00:33:50]In past also, Manisha, you have seen gold control act 80/20, and this sector has stood by whenever the national crisis arise. So, in this challenging time, we firmly support Prime Minister's appeal.

[00:34:05]But at the same time, we'll have to look after my large number of employment. You are aware that about five to five millions directly, five millions indirectly, 10 millions jobs are affected can be affected if the sales goes down. So, we are working with I have started discussing with stakeholders. I called one meeting with retailers today at 5:00 p.m. today in Mumbai. And after talking with several stakeholders, we'll think about the way forward.

[00:34:35]Mhm.

[00:34:36]Uh I understand there are various options that the industry already seems to be talking about, Mr. Bansal, whether it is about importing for export of value-added jewelry. There also is conversation about more recycled gold coming in, exchange of gold, etc. Are you looking at all of those options?

[00:34:53]And is there at all a concern or a fear about increase in import duty or increase in GST for that matter? No, no.

[00:35:00]Manisha, you must have read this funny sketch today. The 70 business business is this gold exchange. Okay.

[00:35:08]So, all retailers are expecting that the large number of some figures are saying that about 25,000 tons of gold lying in Indian markets with household, with temples. If it comes in pipeline, the business will run smooth.

[00:35:24]That is one option. But there are so many other options available. We'll have to discuss with the stakeholders and we'll come out with the interest of retail survival and Prime Minister's appeal.

[00:35:39]Mhm. Mr. Bansal, as you said, 70% of most of the jewelry bought today is exchange gold. Is that what the industry is working with or is industry at all concerned about a slight slowdown if there actually are austerity measures that consumers do tend to put in?

[00:35:54]See, looking at the economy, you must have seen the 2,000 plus point downs in two two two days. So, whenever the economy is slow down, the jewelry jewelry sector affects immediately. And with this Prime Minister appeal, I must I must confirm that that can be little slow down, but this is a matter of time. I don't know how long this will last and in what context the Prime Minister is appealing. We have requested Prime Minister for time, but he as he's traveling between 15 to 20th, so I think we will be able to meet him after 20th.

[00:36:32]Also, when you expect a bit of a slowdown, how is industry looking to tackle that really in and how are you also reading the finer details when the Prime Minister said that this is only for 1 year, the appeal is only for 1 year? In last five decades, Manisha, we have faced so many challenges, pandemic, then war started from Russia, Ukraine, and then US and Iran, then oil price.

[00:37:01]Number of but this sector has shown resilience. If I talk about export figures, in spite of these hurdles, we have maintained only last year we have seen only 3% decline.

[00:37:14]We we we are united, our industry is united, our all these new youngsters finds new markets, we have explored new markets. As far as the domestic is concerned, we are doing a series of meeting with retailers and we'll find out some way.

[00:37:31]A final question then, while the domestic exports, rather the imports into the country for the month of April have seen a very sharp decline for gold, May seems to be quite slow as well. How have the export numbers been for April?

[00:37:43]How are you looking at May?

[00:37:45]Definitely it will be a little slowdown because of this current situation, but now yesterday I have read some good news that a team from Washington D.C. D.C. is coming to the New Delhi for the FTA. So, if it happens then I have number of times said, Manisha, there is a lowest inventory in US. If once the FTA signs, US market can open and that will boost our export.

[00:38:12]All right.

[00:38:14]Lowest jewelry inventories in US, perhaps we could be looking at that FTA coming sooner. Mr. Bansal, thank you so much for joining in for that conversation. All right, Manisha. Thanks very much for taking us through that conversation. And something related to that, just want to point out that a lot of these silver ETFs, Tata Silver ETF, Nippon India Silver ETF, are doing well in today's trading session along with Hindustan Zinc, which is up around 3% Remember that silver prices had rallied to around a 2-month high in yesterday's trading session in the US. It was up around 5 to 6% and to put it into perspective, it's currently at around 85.

[00:38:49]Just about there. About 84 to 85 dollars an ounce. It had hit a high of 116.7 dollars an ounce on the 28th of Jan. So, it's corrected 26% from those levels, but it's also up 26% from lows of around 67.94 dollars an ounce, which was hit on the 20th of March 2026.

[00:39:13]Once it had already hit those highs in Jan. So, yes, it is a correction from the top, but overall, it's also a bounce back from the lows. And if you had invested in May of 2025, same time last year, you'd be sitting on gains of around 166% still on silver. We'll take a short break, but up next, we'll focus on Syrma SGS, which is reacting to its Q4 numbers. It's our Inside Edge segment. Stay tuned.

[00:39:58]Welcome back. Well, aggravated losses which are coming in for the markets now.

[00:40:02]So, we have the mid-cap index, which is now down around 1.5%. Put it into perspective, when we started the show, it was down around 1% and we have the bank nifty, which is now down close to 800 odd points. It's down around 1.4%.

[00:40:15]So, just watch out for a couple of these indices. There's aggravated selling which is coming in for the IT space. HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS continue to be your top losers on the Nifty but stocks such as IndusInd Bank also are seeing aggravated selling so down around 3 odd percent for a bank like that. But let's now focus on our inside edge segment on Halftime Report. Syrma SGS has delivered a good show in the month a month of or rather in the quarter gone by margins of nearly 12% beat estimates and there's growth across segments which has given way to a strong growth in profits. The management has guided for a good FY27 but is striking a cautious note on logistics on account of the West Asia tensions. We have Upasana joining in with the key takeaways and evaluation picture for the EMS sector. Upasana, take it away.

[00:41:09]Well, the entire EMS sector is under pressure right now in tandem with the market. Now, let us look at what were the key How was the queue queue for like for these companies? Be it uh Syrma SGS, overall it was a mixed set for the company and the brokerages expect a strong growth to return in FY27. Avalon Tech, overall a good set is what is reported by the company and the US business was the key revenue driver here with a 60% growth and the company is also guided for 24 to 27% revenue growth in FY27. Now, coming to Syrma SGS, overall it's a good set. Margin has beat and revenue and PAT largely in line with the street estimates and the company is also sticks to 30% revenue growth in uh FY27 and even 30% growth beat [music] EBITDA and PAT in FY27. Now, let us look at some of the key results which are expected this week. Now, Dixon Tech, the results are expected today. Overall, the soft quarter is what is expected and the revenue is largely to remain flat because of the impacted mobile volumes is was the street is expecting. Dixon's overall strong result is what the street expectation is with a revenue growth of 53% on year-on-year basis. Amber Enterprises steady quarter is what the has is the street estimation and consumer durable likely to remain steady while the company's electronic segment is likely to be a strong growth driver here. And lastly, coming to PG Electroplast, overall a weak quarter is what is expected. Decline in RAC sales and also margin pressure on year-on-year basis. Now, if you look at the valuation of all these companies, it has come off post the correction and the stocks value somewhere between 35 times to 55 times leading the Dixon Tech which trades at 55 times and Sign DLM which is the cheapest trading at around 35 times.

[00:43:00]Now, coming to the key takeaways of Syrma SGS, now the management has maintained its FY27 guidance of 30% growth. It also expects the export to cross 1,500 crore and it has also given a margin guidance which is conservative of 10 to 10 and 1/2% in light of the current geopolitical situation. Listen in.

[00:43:22]The current year FY26, my exports have gone up to 1,200 crores against the guidance of 1,100 crores uh representing a 41% increase over the previous year.

[00:43:34]We see a upside in this and we expect this exports in the current year, that is FY27, to cross uh 1,500 crore mark. And we are by far the largest exporter of electronics outside the mobile space.

[00:43:50]For the current year, that is FY27, uh the overall global environment is a bit uncertain, but despite that, we believe we are on track to achieve uh growth of around 30% on all parameters, which is the revenue, EBITDA, and PBT going forward.

[00:44:11]Okay, that's the management of Syrma SGS. The stock is still under pressure in the in today's trading session, almost near the day's lowest point as well as of now, down 3%. But on that note, we're going to slip into a very short break. We'll get you more on the markets, more stock-specific action after the break as well.

[00:44:39]Welcome back. After days low for the markets, the Nifty is down 300 points.

[00:44:43]The Bank Nifty almost 800 point cut there. We do have some big names like Reliance Industries at the day's low.

[00:44:48]Sun Pharma is also at the day's low as we speak. A lot of pressure coming in from the IT pack. So, that's the market mood for now.

[00:44:55]With that, we'll take our leave on this edition of Halftime Report, but stay tuned. We'll have Business Lunch that'll take all the action ahead.