Business Today: Byju's Founder Jailed, Airlines Cut Flights Amid Fuel Hike & LIC Plans Stake Sale

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:10]Good afternoon dear viewers. You are watching the business today show. I'm Sakshi Batra. This is where I get you all the stock market closing action on the L street. First up, let's take a look at what's hot in the corporate and the financial world.

[00:00:24]Markets trade choppy, swinging between gains and losses as investors track the West Asia tensions. The nifty is near 23,900. The Sensex is down about 200 points. Broader markets are outperforming while the metals continue to shine.

[00:00:40]HDFC Bank falls on reports of payments to attract big deposits as shares dropped nearly 2% after allegations of 45 crores differential interest payments linked to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation deposits has come in. The bank has strongly denied any wrongdoing calling its systems robust and compliant.

[00:01:05]Domestic airs are set to rise further as Air India and Indico are now going to be cutting capacity from June amid soaring jet fuel prices. Jet fuel price revision for domestic airlines will be announced in the 1st of June and that could hit the airline bottom lines further.

[00:01:19]Largest impact is likely on the metro routes.

[00:01:26]India and the United States of America edge closer for a landmark trade pact as US trade representative Jameson Grier is looking at how a US delegation will visit India next week to advance talks of a framework agreement with both sides aiming to finalize the long-awaited deal.

[00:01:45]Baiju's founder Baiju Ravindran has now been sentenced to a six months um you know sentenced by Singapore court for attempt over alleged non-compliance with asset disclosure orders a fresh setback amid global legal battles responding he actually said truth does not change with a headline unquote adding the outor is procedural and not a finding of a fraud or wrongdoing We straight away look at uh welcoming Sudh Bandopadia market expert on the program. Sep welcome good afternoon to you. Uh first up how are you looking at this extreme choppiness in the markets.

[00:02:26]Of course, we are uh inching closer to this entire June series beginning. We have a truncated trade but even globally the signals have been uh quite mixed for this entire 1 week 10day scenario and the markets have been very very choppy in the last 10 days.

[00:02:42]>> Good afternoon Sakshi. You're absolutely right. We are living in a extremely volatile uh you know world. geopolitical situation is extremely uncertain and uh you know you keep getting news that the settlement is happening the peace treaty is getting signed and then nothing happens and that's been going on for quite some time uh you know and one is not very sure whether the treaty will happen this week or not but I think expectations are building up that's the reason why we have seen oil prices cooling off to an extent as opposed to close to being $110 per barrel Now it's come to close to $100 per barrel. It's hovering between 94.95 and about $100 per barrel. But the settlement is still not there and uncertainty continues and that's the reason for the market to remain volatile. uh you know domestic are also you know obviously volatile and currency is continuously under pressure after recovering for a few days again there's pressure building up on Indian currency and on top of that we have our own challenges with Elmino uh uh you know expected to affect the monsoon which definitely will have a dent on Indian economy >> absolutely we look at a breaking news viewers this is with regards to LIC and uh there are reports that are indicating a stake sale is likely in June. Reports indicate that the government is likely to sell 2% stake in LIC and this stake sale is likely to raise about 10,000 cr rupees. Reports also indicate the sales of part of FI27 disinvestment plan. Now remember LIC's 2% sale will be only for institutional buyers. That's the report indicating the stock is down by 2.8% 8% amidst this news slow that's coming in that the government is now looking to offload a 2% stake in LIC to raise about 10,000 cr rupes and that could come in as far as June is concerned and this sale could be as part of the financial year 2027 disinvestment plan of the government as well. Uh let me go back to SEP to try and understand what this could mean. uh one uh sib when it comes to the government's own disinvestment uh you know uh the aim that the government has been having last couple of years it's not really uh taken up uh to the optimum levels with the start of this uh financial year itself uh the government now looking at selling a 2% stake to raise some funds on LIC what do you really make of this >> well I think it's an excellent step this is one of the point which we have been making that government is not utilizing the uh stake sale window of and it's extremely critical. Uh we have a challenging situation because of the West Asia crisis. The the fiscal is under pressure and under the circumstances it's of paramount importance that we do sell uh some of the public sector undertaking some part of their shareholding uh to generate liquidity and uh you know tied over the fiscal constraints. uh you know look uh today coal India there is some OFS happening again it's an excellent thing which the government is doing similarly for LIC the OFS which they have announced I think it's an extremely good step and I expect to see many more such OFS coming in the near future uh you know last couple of years if you have seen private promoters have taken out money foreign investors have taken out money unfortunately government has not been proactive in taking out money because when the government takes out money that money which they take out is used for further investment for further developmental activities and it's extremely critical that from matured assets they exit and use the money to do something more constructive uh and create more assets.

[00:06:26]>> Absolutely. So good step right there in case these reports stand true. This will augur well going forward as well. Now let's uh look at another key aspect that the markets have been tracking. India and the United States may finally be inching closer to a landmark trade agreement and US trade representative Jameson Greer has now talked about how both sides already have a framework agreement in place and talks are now moving forward to finalize this trade deal. A US team is expected to visit India next week and Greer also mentions that he may also soon meet commerce minister Posh Coyle calling the proposed pact historic. career has also talked about how previous attempts on the trade agreements involving India and the US and even the European Union have struggled for years without much success. Here's what he said.

[00:07:14]>> And and then on New Delhi um again this has been we've had many meaningful discussions. We have a framework agreement uh done with the with the Indians. Uh we are I have a team going there next week. Um you know I expect to meet with my counterpart soon as well. I would really like to be in a position to finalize our agreement with them as well on the basis of the joint frame framework we agreed to. Uh it would be historic for the US and India. I mean just think with with the US and the EU we tried to have a trade agreement with them didn't work out. Uh EU and India we've tried several times didn't work out. So we're trying to do things that have never been done. They're not going to be comprehensive trade agreements because as we have found that takes years and can never find full traction.

[00:07:59]But we're trying to make concrete movement uh with these with these jurisdictions with these countries and and it's happening.

[00:08:09]>> Uh coming to you Sudep, what is it that you are looking for as far as the market cues as they will be picking up from this upcoming US uh officials u you know meeting with the Indian officials finally looking forward to agreeing upon uh some deal. Remember just days ago we also heard uh Donald Trump talking positively about India and India's prime minister how he's confident that both the countries will be looking to seal the deal very soon. um he's talked about how he's a fan of PM Modi but he's in the past also talked India talked about India being very very um you know tough uh market to negotiate with how are you looking at these fresh cues for the entire 2025 year markets were just pinning their hopes on this one deal for large part of this calendar year it's largely the overshadow effect of West Asia war but again things are progressing on the trade front >> well couple of things one is I think market has moved on. I don't think market is uh you know unduly perturbed with the deal getting signed or not signed. Uh and rightly so because the market has seen this you know as you rightly said for more than a year now but having said that I think as and when and if the deal eventually gets signed it will be definitely positive for the markets and positive particularly for few sectors which are are big exporting sectors. So the textiles uh you know the aquaculture the gems and jewelry are the sectors to my mind which will directly benefit and that in turn will have a significant positive impact on employment in India which India definitely will look forward to. Uh you know by and large whatever India exports to us roughly about 50% doesn't come under the trade agreement and they didn't have the negative impact of tariff. So 50% of Indian export to US was coming this punitive tariffs and other you know stuff and hopefully that now will get regularized and normalized once the deal gets signed.

[00:10:20]>> Absolutely. Hopes are pinned on that.

[00:10:22]Well there's another breaking news coming in on your screens viewers and this might pinch your pocket a little deeper. This is with regards to the auto space the news flow that we are getting.

[00:10:32]Hyundai is talking about how they are looking at a price hike. Hyundai has uh raised the car prices uh or announced the raising of car prices starting 1st of June. And Hyundai is going to be raising prices up to 12,800 rupees is what the maximum um you know price hike will be across the models that uh Hyundai owns. Honda is also talking about how the price hike will be across the models and this is of course due to the input costs uh surging for the car companies because of one uh the rising crude oil prices to a lot of uh you know supply chain disruptions because of West Asia war that these car companies are also looking at the stock has jumped on the fact that the stock companies announced this price hike 1.6% 6% higher for Hyundai Motors today stock when 1915 is where it is trading at. Uh so this is going to be important.

[00:11:27]Remember the last uh you know half or last 3 to four months of 2025 um auto enthusiasts were celebrating the GST cut that was passed on to consumers by way of sharp cut in car prices across the board. Um you know across the models as well for a lot of companies. But now comes this West Asia war because of which constantly these car companies have to raise prices and now starting June there will be another round from Hyundai Motors up to 12,800 rupees will be hiked. Uh you know that is what Hyundai is talking about. Uh what would that do to the consumer demand?

[00:12:08]>> Well, I think this was on the cars. Most of the automobile companies have been and will be taking hikes. uh input costs have moved up and this was very much of the cards. Uh so yes you are absolutely right GST cut was passed on and there was a cheer amongst the consumers we saw record number of vehicles being sold uh and I think that was very very encouraging but this this had to happen because input costs have gone up and at some point of the time or the other this was expected so I don't think it is a big shock or anything like that it was uh expected and this will get absorbed by the market you will probably see some some kind of pressure in first couple of months post the hike but then it'll come back to regular >> okay but I remember when we were talking last time we were talking about the concerns around inflation that are further picking up pace one it was the fuel price le inflation that's already made its mark in the wholesale price in index of inflation coming in at a 42-month high at 8.3% in April but now when all of these sectors ers are looking at price hikes to mitigate the impact on their margins, their realizations and to pass on to consumers. Starting from FMCG, we've seen Hul, we've seen other companies like Britannia talk about price hikes.

[00:13:31]Uh now we have the car companies that are looking at price hikes. There could be many other industries. We're also looking at uh you know companies like Pikachi Foods talked about 3 to 4% hike as well. So FMCG companies and we're looking at cement companies that have also raised the prices. Now the car companies most of the sectors are now looking at passing on the impact to consumers. What will that do to overall inflation going forward?

[00:13:56]>> Well undoubtedly inflation will go up because you know in the economy the input costs when they go up obviously the secondary and tertiary impact of that uh is seen over a period of time and that's exactly what we are witnessing now. You know I if today now we have seen impact on 10 items tomorrow we will see another 10 and eventually you will get to see the full impact of the uh you know the input cost high price hikes. So it started with oil and naturally oil derivatives and anything related to oil and that led to a significant increase in logistics cost uh raw material in terms of metals uh and and other softer commodity as well.

[00:14:40]So it is bound to happen and it is bound to have an impact on inflation. The only good thing is inflation was so so low and it was much below the RBI uh you know 4% RBI mandate of 4%. It's still below that 4% uh and at some point of time I think RBI is also penciling in inflation going above 4% but as per their estimate it will not cross 5% during the current fiscal. Let's wait and watch how things pan out and it all eventually depends on how long the war in West Asia continues. Okay, fair point. Let's look at the airfares and the aviation news. Now, that's another space that investors and consumers have to look for. Any signs of uh fair hikes to be impacting their pockets. Domestic airfares are set to rise further. Air India and Indigo are moving to cut capacity amid elevated jet jet fuel prices and rising operational costs. Let me go across to my colleague Rich Sharma who's going to be getting us more on the same. Uh Rich, what are you picking up from your sources? uh are there clear indications that one uh domestic carriers are going to be cutting their capacities for uh uh the coming up months June July these are essential for summer travel as well once that happens is there going to be an indirect impact into airfares >> yes in fact air India has issued a statement while they have not given a perfect number but what we are hearing is almost 22% cut which amounts to 752 to 770 flights of Air India on domestic sector and these flights are primarily on metro connectivity like Delhi, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai. So the metro sectors which is really high demand sector. So that is what AirI India has officially confirmed while Indigo has not issued any statement or shared but there have been uh sources saying that Indigo is also cutting almost 7%. So you know when the flights are reduced it's automatic u you know demand and supply gap. So when the supply is less demand increases especially in the peak summer when there are summer travels attached people going for vacations. So there are less flights uh imagine some 700 800 less flights on the domestic sector. So demand will increase that will definitely increase domestic airfare which is already almost 15% high which we've been seeing uh you know since the West Asia conflict started um due to the high jet fuel prices. So that is what we've been hearing.

[00:17:19]>> Okay. Uh Rich thanks a lot for getting us those details. The domestic carriers are already slashing their uh summer travel capacity by uh 700 to 800 flights lesser than their uh usual flights that could lead to of course higher demand for lesser number of flights therefore increasing air phase. So one has to be prepared for uh you know of course higher travel fairs when it comes to traveling by aviation as well. Let me go across uh to Sudep for a quick word here. um you know indigo we have very you know we have very less number of stocks that one really trades in the stock markets uh one is indigo and that largely holds the monopoly there the other one is spice jet which has a very minuscule share air India is not listed but uh when these companies are already facing the pinch of the ATF prices and they're going to be now cutting the capacities there what does that indicate for the business going forward Indigo has already had a tough last six months period Well, I think the ch their challenges continue. Uh look, about close to 40% of an oper operating cost of an airline uh is aviation turbine fuel. And as we know the uh global oil prices going up has affected the ATF prices significantly.

[00:18:36]It has moved up significantly. They haven't been able to pass on that entire cost to the consumers by way of hike in the fairs. So obviously they're trying to uh you know cut down the flights and cut costs uh wherever possible. Uh but it's challenging time undoubtedly. But having said that I will also mention to you one thing that uh you know the moment West Asia crisis kind of uh the there is an end to the crisis I think things will start improving for uh on the both the oil front as well as automatically on the uh uh airline front as well. So I as far as indigo is concerned I'm positive in the medium to long term but short term yes there is turbulence and challenges.

[00:19:22]>> All right okay viewers we'll quickly look at how the markets are shutting shop now we are at 23,920 onto the nifty six points higher in trade. uh very very volatile set of uh the session that we've had for the nifty. Uh through the course of the session, you've seen the markets uh slip below uh 23,900 and then hover just around that level. A very rangebound session with a lot of choppiness that's followed. Uh but it's been some sectors that have outperformed. You are seeing uh the media stocks up by 3%, autos up by 1.7%, metals 1.6% higher, the broader markets are also doing well. Banks have uh seen some profit taking today and IT stocks have also dipped in the session today.

[00:20:05]On the nifty the top movers are Tata Motors, passenger vehicles about 4.6% higher. On the nifty you also have um you know metal stocks like Hindalco that have pulled up Power Grid, Zumato. These are some of the other stocks that have moved up in the session. Whereas on the declining end you have OGC, HDFC Bank, HDFC Life, Whipro, um SBI Life Insurance. These are the names uh that have actually slipped in the session as well. So that's how the markets have shut up. But we'll start taking some of your questions now uh with the Sudany and your we have the first query for you sir and this one is from Sartak Sharma.

[00:20:41]He's from Shimla. He says I have investments in new age tech stocks like Swiggy and Zomato. Should I continue to accumulate more at the current level?

[00:20:49]Sadep.

[00:20:51]>> Well, we do like Eternal which is the uh company uh uh Zomato. Uh I think we believe that in this kind of a business uh a winner takes all that's what applies and eternal has clearly been the winner. uh you know their food delivery business which is Zumato I think that their uh the break even has been achieved and things are improving their uh uh quick commerce business blinket things are improving at a rapid pace uh and and the most interesting part is they have got the necessary corporate approval and now they are an Indian-owned Indian managed company which allows them to follow the inventory-led model as far as blinkit is concerned unfortunately in case of Swiggy they failed to receive their corporate internal corporate approval for that uh Indian-owned Indian managed uh uh uh uh you know kind of a uh structure and that's the reason they can't follow the inventory-led model and their Instamart is still uh uh you know at a disadvantage visa we blink it and things are not that good as far as Instamart is concerned uh I'm not writing off or I'm not uh you know saying that Swiggy can't do well but at this stage eternal is my favorite uh and one should look at buying more eternal if you can but remember these valuations are not cheap so if you are buying these stocks buy for long-term >> okay buy for long-term these new age tech stocks is the preferred one for sad thank you so much Sudh for being with us on the show and for helping all our viewers with your insights on the markets and for addressing their queries viewers we'll move on and now to showcase uh something within the healthcare space to you for healthcare is strengthening its expansion strategy with a sharper focus on acquisition ations, regional hospitals, clusters, high-end specialtity care across markets. Let me go across to Vive Kumar Goyel, the chief financial officer of what is healthcare uh who's talked about the growth road map uh in conversation with my colleague Nitu Chadra Sharma.

[00:22:49]Let's listen in.

[00:22:52]So the hospital revenue grow ahead occupancy growth. So how much of this came from specialtity mix pricing and higherend procedures? if you can share with us with our viewers.

[00:23:03]>> Sure. Sure. So I uh the main highlight of this quarter and year is that the revenue growth is coming mainly from the u uh volume growth. It is not driven by the pricing growth which we have seen in the earlier financials year. So that is quite encouraging and uh the revenue uh the price increase is 2 to 3% only while you know when I say price increase ARP of increase and uh uh the main growth in the revenue is coming from the volume growth and we have focused more on you know the robotic surgeries we uh we have focused more on the oncology business and that has really helped us in growing the business uh to this level.

[00:23:48]All right, Vive also let us understand that for has added bids through acquisitions and partnerships this year.

[00:23:55]So how aggressive do you plan to be you know on your expansion in FY27 going forward?

[00:24:01]>> Yes sure. So uh last year uh we have added 750 beds in our network. uh 250 is through brownfield expansion and almost 500 beds through a we have acquired three facilities one in Jalandar, one in uh Bangalore and one in uh greater. So uh our strategy is to use all liver for growth. Uh brownfield expansion plan we have already uh shared with the market where you know we are planning 2,000 bad addition over a period of next four year four years. uh we are also exploring various opportunity for acquisition and we are also exploring uh green field uh uh bad expansion possibility wherever you know acquisition and brownfield is not possible.

[00:24:47]>> So having said that you said that your company is continuing to evaluate inorganic opportunities. So how active is the acquisition pipeline right now?

[00:24:56]>> So it is quite active but acquisition you know come with its own challenge.

[00:25:01]These opportunities come with own challenge. market is quite uh biased in terms of the seller side because a lot of private equity investors are chasing these deals. So we are we have made our uh stand very clear that we are we will not be chasing the deal on pricing and we are very uh you know disciplined in uh bidding for any acquisition things uh and that's why uh the as a alternate to acquisition we are also exploring the brown green field expens expansion opportunity brownfield in any case is a you know no-brainer because of the cost is just half the green field and thing and in brownfield another thing is it easy to ramp up the capacity fast and it will start contributing immediately uh in the bottom line.

[00:25:49]>> And before we leave viewers, do not forget to get your hands onto the latest edition of the business today magazine.

[00:25:54]It's now on the stands and this issue focuses on Indian economy navigating a far more challenging global environment.

[00:26:00]from the impact of West Asia conflict and rising crude oil prices to the pressure on the rupee capital outflows and inflationary concerns. The mood has shifted sharply from optimism that was seen right after the union budget. Our cover story this uh week spotlights Titan company, one of India's biggest wealth creation stories, tracing its journey from trusted brands to one of the most valuable companies within the Tata Group. And despite the macro uncertainty, there is one big positive.

[00:26:28]India Inc.'s profitability remains strong with net profit margins hitting their highest levels in at least 60 quarters. So don't forget to tune in on uh to some of these stories within uh the Business Today website as well as catch up on the latest edition of Business Today magazine.