A Top Indian Pension Fund Manager Is Betting on 30-Year Bonds
The yield gap between India's 30- and 10-year sovereign notes has widened to levels last seen four years ago, after the central bank in June signaled that it may not cut rates further soon. This makes long-tenor bonds attractive for pension funds, which typically seek to lock in higher returns for longer periods.
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Business Optimism Index for Q3 2025 declines, but sub-indices indicate resilience in the domestic economy
The Dun & Bradstreet Business Optimism Index reduced by 2.3% (q-o-q) for Q3 2025 MUMBAI, India, July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Dun & Bradstreet, a global leader in business decisioning data and analytics, released the Business Optimism Index (BOI) for Q3 2025, which declined to 117—marking a 2.3% decline over the previous quarter. The modest decline was driven by a fall in optimism in the large and the medium sized firms, while small firms showed resilience. The moderation in sentiment stems largely from global economic uncertainty, prompting businesses to take a measured approach. However, the domestic outlook remains strong, supported by improving macroeconomic conditions. A marginal decline in selling volume q-o-q suggests businesses are skeptic about evolving demand conditions. The decline may reflect a dip in optimism around export orders, which had risen sharply in the previous quarter due to frontloading ahead of anticipated tariff announcements. In contrast, sentiment around domestic orders remained strong. The decline in optimism regarding selling prices likely reflects the subdued inflationary pressures in the economy. Overall, the survey indicates that firms are navigating the current landscape with measured confidence, balancing global risks with robust domestic opportunities. The Dun & Bradstreet Business Optimism Index, which has been tracking the changing business sentiment of India Inc. since 2002, continues to serve as a reliable leading indicator of India's economic growth, maintaining a strong correlation of approximately 80% with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Arun Singh, Global Chief Economist, Dun & Bradstreet, said, "While the Q3 2025 decline in the Dun & Bradstreet Business Optimism Index reflects a degree of caution among larger firms, the underlying resilience of the domestic economy stands out. Strong consumption fundamentals, rising investment activity, and targeted policy are lending support to business confidence, particularly among small businesses. The uptick in optimism around the domestic macroeconomic environment, despite global headwinds, signals trust in India's domestic growth momentum. As trade policy uncertainty clouds global demand, businesses are looking inward, with over half prioritizing the domestic market for future growth. Going forward, the recently signed India–UK Free Trade Agreement is expected to open new avenues for market access, improving trade through supply chain diversification. These developments are likely to boost business sentiment by enhancing export opportunities and driving innovation. Together, stronger external competitiveness and domestic market strength can sustain optimism and help Indian businesses navigate global volatility with greater confidence." Key findings from the Q3 2025 survey The optimism for sales volume decreased by 1 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The food, beverages, metals, and transportation sectors are the most optimistic, while construction and information & communication sectors show lower optimism. The optimism for domestic orders rose by 3 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The electricals, electronics, mining, textiles and leather sectors remain the most optimistic, while financial and insurance activities and automotive sectors report the lowest optimism. The optimism for export orders fell by 1 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. Electronics, metals, textile and leather sectors lead optimism, while financial and insurance activities and automotive sectors remain least optimistic. The optimism for selling prices fell by 11 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The metals, hospitality, and food and beverages sectors show the highest optimism, while electronics and automotive sectors report lower confidence. The optimism for net profit fell by 4 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The financial and insurance, construction, and hospitality sectors are the most optimistic, while electronics, automotive, and capital goods sectors show lower optimism. The optimism for the global macroeconomic environment fell by 5 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The chemicals sector, along with utilities and professional and administrative services, remain most optimistic, while automotive and hospitality sectors show lower confidence. The optimism for employment fell by 15 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The hospitality, food & beverages, and textiles sectors exhibit high optimism, while automotive, transportation, and capital goods sectors show lower optimism. The optimism for the domestic macroeconomic environment increased by 8 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The information & communication, financial services, wholesale & retail trade, and transportation sectors show the highest confidence, while hospitality and capital goods sectors are least optimistic. The optimism for input costs fell by 1 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. The metals, food and beverages sectors show higher optimism, while information & communication and financial services sectors report lower optimism. The optimism for inventory levels saw an increase of 10 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter Q2 2025. Mining and automotive sectors are the most optimistic, while metals and food and beverages sectors report the lowest optimism. Notes to Editors The Dun & Bradstreet Business Optimism Index (BOI) is a quarterly survey-based index designed to measure the pulse of the Indian business community and has served as a reliable indicator of the economy. Dun & Bradstreet surveys respondents (senior management) pan India across the Manufacturing and Services sectors, covering businesses of varying scale (large, medium and small) to calculate the BOI. Respondents are asked about their expectations (in terms of increase, decrease, or no change) regarding their company's performance (Ten BOI Parameters) in the ensuing quarter over the same quarter in the previous year. About Dun & Bradstreet: Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, enables companies around the world to improve their business performance. Dun & Bradstreet's Data Cloud fuels solutions and delivers insights that empower customers to accelerate revenue, lower cost, mitigate risk and transform their businesses. Since 1841, companies of every size have relied on Dun & Bradstreet to help them manage risk and reveal opportunity. For more information on Dun & Bradstreet, please visit Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Private Limited is headquartered in Mumbai and provides clients with data-driven products and technology-driven platforms to help them take faster and more accurate decisions in domains of finance, risk, compliance, information technology and marketing. Working towards Government of India's vision of creating an Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) by supporting the Make in India initiative, Dun & Bradstreet India has a special focus on helping entrepreneurs enhance their visibility, increase their credibility, expand access to global markets, and identify potential customers & suppliers, while managing risk and opportunity. India is also the home to Dun & Bradstreet Technology & Corporate Services LLP, which is the Global Capabilities Center (GCC) of Dun & Bradstreet supporting global technology delivery using cutting-edge technology. Located at Hyderabad, the GCC has a highly skilled workforce of over 500 employees, and focuses on enhanced productivity, economies of scale, consistent delivery processes and lower operating expenses. Visit for more information. Click here for all Dun & Bradstreet India press releases. Photo: View original content to download multimedia:
Entrepreneur
13 minutes ago
- Entrepreneur
IndiQube Raises Over INR 314 Cr from Anchor Investors Ahead of IPO
The IPO opens on July 23 and will close on July 25, 2025. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. IndiQube Spaces Limited has secured more than INR 314.32 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial public offering, as revealed in an exchange filing. The equity shares were allotted at INR 237 per share. The anchor book attracted participation from several prominent investors. Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Ashoka WhiteOak ICAV along with WhiteOak Capital, Invesco India ELSS Tax Saver Fund, Bandhan Large and Mid Cap Fund, Motilal Oswal Large Cap Fund, Malabar India Fund, and Malabar Midcap Fund were among those who received equity allocations. Other participants included Max New York Life Insurance, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Baroda BNP Paribas, TOCU Europe III S.A R.L., Groww Mutual Fund, BNP Paribas Financial Markets, Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius Private Limited, and Societe Generale. WestBridge Capital, through its group entities Aravali Investment Holdings, WestBridge AIF I, Konark Trust, and MMPL Trust, continues to hold a pre-offer stake of 27.95 percent and is not diluting any part of its shareholding in this round. In terms of financial performance, IndiQube reported a total income of INR 1,103 crore in fiscal 2025, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 35 percent from fiscal 2023. Its EBITDA for the year stood at INR 660 crore, with a return on capital employed of 34.21 percent and cash EBIT margins of 10.81 percent. Occupancy across steady state centers reached 86.50 percent. Under IGAAP standards, the company remained profit after tax positive and paid INR 7.7 crore and INR 8.4 crore in income tax during fiscal years 2024 and 2025 respectively. It has also maintained a CRISIL A Plus with Stable outlook for three consecutive cycles. Of the 13,262,658 equity shares allotted to anchor investors, 67.35 percent were allocated to eight domestic mutual funds across 21 schemes. The IPO opens on July 23 and will close on July 25, 2025.
TechCrunch
13 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Gupshup raises $60M in equity and debt, leaves unicorn status hanging
Gupshup, a business messaging startup that began its journey in India over two decades ago and became a unicorn four years ago, has raised a new over $60 million round — but is keeping its new valuation under wraps. In 2021, Gupshup raised two funding rounds within four months, securing $340 million from prominent investors including Tiger Global, Fidelity Management, Think Investments, and Malabar Investments. These rounds — the startup's first in roughly a decade — valued Gupshup at $1.4 billion. However, Fidelity, which led the round following its unicorn milestone, slashed its internal valuation of the startup at least three times between 2023 and 2024, bringing it down to as low as $486 million. The new funding round, which combines equity and debt financing from Globespan Capital Partners and EvolutionX Debt Capital, aims to help the San Francisco-headquartered startup expand its presence across its high-growth markets, including India, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. The startup would not reveal the exact debt portion although its founder and CEO Beerud Seth told TechCrunch that the equity part is 'a little more than half.' In 2004, Gupshup — derived from Indian slang meaning 'conversations' — started as a platform to help businesses connect with their customers through text messages. It gained popularity as text messages were not free at the time, and people were seeking ways to send messages to their friends and community groups. However, as communication shifted from short messaging service (SMS) to WhatsApp and Rich Communication Services (RCS), the startup moved to these avenues with its chatbot services. Now, as AI has become a catchall term, and AI agents — software that can perform specific tasks on behalf of users — have emerged everywhere, Gupshup has started enabling businesses to deploy agents. 'There's a lot of demand coming from enterprises. Everybody needs to build these AI agents, which work through messaging like RCS and WhatsApp or through voice. So, building out these agents, there's huge demand, and we need to support it,' Seth said. Globally, AI agents are gaining traction, with startups building them drawing strong investor interest. Tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are also exploring how to bring more of these agents to users through their own platforms. The result: competition is heating up. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Gupshup does not view the rising competition as a threat. Seth pointed to the startup's substantial install base — which exceeds 50,000 customers across more than 100 countries — and its track record of product innovation, driven by years of experience in business messaging, strategic acquisitions, and internal R&D. 'Businesses cannot use simple foundation models off the shelf and just put them in front of customers. They need a lot of customization to be done, and that's where Gupshup comes in. That's what we provide,' he noted. Since its last round in July 2021, the startup 'tripled' its revenue and grew its profitability, Sheth said. However, it is unclear whether that resulted in an increased valuation, as, he said, this latest round was not priced. 'As a founder, you focus on value, and the valuation will follow,' Seth said when asked whether he still considers the startup a unicorn. 'We operate ourselves like we are going to be a big company.' Alongside expanding geographically, the startup aims to utilize its fresh funding to enhance its products, which are used in industries including automotive, banking, e-commerce, fintech, media, payments, retail, and travel. Its products also include click-to-chat ads, an AI campaign copilot, agent assist, and campaign manager. Gupshup claims to power over 120 billion messages annually for thousands of enterprises. Looking ahead, the startup sees an IPO as its next major milestone. 'We're talking to all our advisors, lawyers, bankers, accountants, and so on, to figure this out,' Seth said. The startup has no specific timeline for its public listing, although Seth told TechCrunch that it could happen in 18–24 months. Gupshup is exploring whether it should list on Indian stock exchanges — a move that makes strategic sense, as the startup views India, where WhatsApp dominates, as a more favorable market. Among the reasons: it's easier to communicate its story to local retail investors, who are more familiar with WhatsApp and understand how Gupshup's products, including its AI agents, operate within the platform. However, since Gupshup is domiciled in the U.S., a flip to India would trigger tax liabilities, which could require additional funding. The IPO 'is the one thing that we don't control entirely. The calendar depends as much on external factors as it does on the company,' Seth said.
