The Jio-Airtel divergence
Plus: SBI’s home-loan playbook for cash; How BSE delivered 14X return in 3 years; and BMC’s water cuts is a real estate problem for Mumbai.
Jio Platforms Ltd. and Bharti Airtel Ltd. run India’s largest telecom networks, but ask them where growth comes from next and you’ll get very different answers.
Airtel is looking outward, betting on Africa, data centres through Nxtra, and financial services via Airtel Money. Jio is doubling down at home, aggressively expanding its broadband network through 5G fixed wireless, while building toward AI services and its own satellite internet constellation.
The numbers make for an interesting analysis. Airtel’s consolidated FY26 revenue was ₹2.11 trillion versus Jio’s ₹1.47 trillion, but Airtel’s India-only revenue of ~₹1.40 trillion narrows that gap sharply. Airtel also leads on monetisation, ARPU of ₹257 versus Jio’s ₹214, and return on capital employed at 19% versus Jio’s 10.8%. Jio leads on scale—524 million subscribers to Airtel’s 482 million, and data consumption of 42.3 GB per user monthly against Airtel’s 31.4 GB.
Jio built dominance through aggressive discounting, which explains the lower margin. Can it now flip the switch and extract more revenue from that massive base? With Motilal Oswal valuing Jio at ₹12 trillion versus Airtel’s ₹11.6 trillion, investors are betting it will. Read the full story by Jatin Grover.
THE MAIN STUFF
SBI’s home-loan playbook for cash
State Bank of India wants to stop sitting on a mountain of home loans and start selling securities backed by them. Chairman C.S. Setty says SBI is “seriously considering” bringing mortgage-backed securities to market, which could unlock liquidity from its ₹9.4 trillion home loan portfolio while offering investors steady returns.
Loans are growing at 16.9% while deposits crawl at 11%. Deposits simply can’t keep pace anymore. But turning home loans into tradeable securities isn’t straightforward in India. The market is tiny, spreads are tight, and prepayments create reinvestment headaches for buyers. Still, when SBI moves, markets follow. India’s total securitisation volumes hit ₹2.5 trillion in FY26. Read on.
India’s chip-spending in FY27
India’s semiconductor ambitions just got a serious budget line. The government plans to disburse ₹7,100 crore in incentives in FY27, nearly double last year’s ₹4,000 crore target, covering one fabrication unit, nine manufacturing facilities and 30 chip design companies. The expected payoff? ₹15,000 crore in fresh investments and 4,700 jobs.
The bigger picture is a ₹76,000 crore semiconductor mission launched in 2021, with Tata Electronics, Micron and others already building facilities across Gujarat and Assam. HCL founder Ajai Chowdhry thinks design is where India’s real edge lies. The country has deep VLSI talent, and backing 30 design firms could prove smarter than chasing fabrication alone. Read more.
MINT LONG STORY
The valuation question for SBI
State Bank of India Chairman Challa Sreenivasulu Setty believes that India’s largest lender deserves a higher valuation, insisting that investors are finally beginning to recognise SBI’s transformation. Read more.
How BSE delivered 14X return in 3 years
When Sundararaman Ramamurthy joined BSE in 2023, the exchange had a market cap of ₹23,000 crore and over 350 unfilled positions. Today, it’s worth ₹1.63 trillion, a 14x jump in roughly three years.
He personally met 350+ brokers before touching a single product, cut ₹100 crore in wasteful expenditure, and relaunched Sensex options, triggering a flywheel of growth across every business vertical. Technology got a complete overhaul too. Derivatives capacity jumped from 10 crore to 1,800 crore orders per day.
Now, with NSE finally heading to a public listing, competition is about to intensify sharply. Ramamurthy calls it a “special milestone”. He was among NSE’s earliest employees. Read on.
UPI’s cashback war is back
Remember when UPI cashbacks were just about getting you to tap and pay? That era’s over. A new crop of fintech apps—super.money, Navi, POP, Kiwi—is using rewards to pull users into credit cards, loans and commerce. Cashback is the bait. The stickier financial product is the real catch.
The numbers show it’s working. Navi climbed from 12th to 4th in NPCI rankings in two years. Launched in August 2024, super.money is already 5th. Even Paytm hiked cash back spending 154% quarter-on-quarter. But POPclub’s volumes crashed 85% the moment it pulled incentives.
Rewards without a deeper product hook don’t retain anyone. Read more.
BMC’s water cuts is a real estate problem
BMC’s decision to cut water supply to construction sites across Mumbai couldn’t have come at a worse time. With 207,000 housing units scheduled for completion across Mumbai this year alone, anything that slows concreting, curing or plastering work directly threatens delivery timelines, and developer cash flows.
Big names like Godrej Properties, Lodha, Oberoi Realty and Mahindra Lifespace all have significant Mumbai exposure. And the broader picture isn’t comforting either. Pre-sales growth is already moderating, the Nifty Realty index has slid 9% this year, and FIIs are quietly reducing their exposure to the sector. If water curbs spread to other civic bodies beyond BMC, the pressure compounds fast. Read on.
🔢 NEWS IN NUMBERS
11
The number of balls Vaibhav Sooryavanshi took to score a fifty during the Tri-Nation Series final against Sri Lanka A, the fastest-ever List A half-century, breaking a 2005 record.
7.1%
The percentage of attempted consumer transactions in India suspected of digital fraud in 2025, almost double the global rate, per TransUnion.
$132 billion
The estimated cost of the US-Iran conflict for American taxpayers and consumers, including military spending and higher energy and interest rates, according to Moody’s Analytics.
30.5 million
The total employment across Fortune 500 companies in 2026, down 301,049 jobs, shrinking for the first time outside a recession since 1995.
30%
The monthly salary cut Japan Airlines CEO Mitsuko Tottori will take for two months to demonstrate accountability following a recent alcohol-related incident involving cabin crew members.
16
The number of fixed-dose combination drugs banned by India’s central government due to safety concerns and a lack of therapeutic justification, aiming to safeguard public health.
8
The number of initial public offerings opening for subscription next week, including three mainboard offerings.
howindialives.com
AROUND THE WORLD
Russia faces fuel shortage after Ukrainian drones pummel refineries
War in Lebanon casts shadow over renewed Iran-US nuclear talks
The US is ramping up economic warfare. Its enemies aren’t blinking.
CHART OF THE DAY
LOUNGE RECOMMENDS
How to raise emotionally secure children
Parents today are perhaps more involved in their children’s lives than any previous generation. They read extensively about parenting, consult experts early, think constantly about emotional development, and spend an enormous amount of time trying to prepare children for an increasingly competitive world. Yet, many children today seem deeply anxious much earlier in life. Read more.
WHAT THE FACT
Meryl Streep turns 76
Born on this day in 1949, Meryl Streep went on to become Hollywood’s most celebrated actress, winning three Academy Awards from a record number of nominations. Her mastery of dialects, technical precision and an extraordinarily expressive screen presence set her apart as one of cinema’s true greats.