India remains a compelling investment destination worldwide, owing to stability, structural reforms and a resilient consumer base, leading global investment firm KKR has stressed.

KKR, in its ‘2025 Mid-Year Global Macro Outlook,’ said India’s growth prospects and favourable market conditions make it an attractive opportunity for investors. “From a macro perspective, India’s relative insulation from global trade friction remains intact, supported by its predominantly domestic, consumer-driven economy,” the report stated.

“We continue to see India as one of the most compelling strategic allocations within emerging markets today,” it added.

The report, published by KKR's Global Macro & Asset Allocation team, emphasised India's unique position as a scalable opportunity amid a shift from benign globalisation to great power competition.

At a time when global supply chains are getting rejigged, if India can do the right reforms, it could become a meaningful producer and exporter of goods, which could spur investment, credit and GDP growth, an HSBC report said on Friday.

In the chicken-and-egg debate of who rises first, GDP growth or credit growth, we thankfully, have a new contender -- reforms, said the report by HSBC Global Investment Research.

“The reforms include lowering tariff rates, signing trade deals, welcoming FDI inflows, and improving ease of doing business. A start has been made. But for impact, reforms need to run deep,” it added.

The report said that market memory can be short.

“Same time last year, we were fretting about weak deposit growth. Today, we are fretting about weak credit growth. We believe one thing is common across both episodes. That while all eyes are on the RBI to resolve the situation, the central bank can only partly address the problem using the monetary policy levers at its disposal," it further stated.

The Indian equity indices opened lower on Friday as heavyweights like Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel were among the top losers in the BSE benchmark.

At 9.25 am, Sensex was down 171 points or 0.21 per cent at 82,087 and Nifty was down 35 points or 0.14 per cent at 25,075.

In the Sensex pack, M&M, Tata Steel, Power Grid, L&T, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Tata Motors, BEL, NTPC, TCS, Trent and Maruti Suzuki were top gainers. Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra , HDFC Bank, Eternal (Zomato),HUL, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Titan and Bajaj Finserv were top losers.

On the sectoral front, auto, IT, PSU bank, metal, realty, media, energy, infra, PSE and commodities were major gainers, while financial services, FMCG and private bank were in the red.

The Indian stock market settled in negative territory on Thursday following selling in IT and banking stocks amid Q1 earnings, and FII outflows due to trade deal concerns.

Sensex ended the session at 82,259.24, down 375.24 points or 0.45 per cent against last day's closing of 82,634.48. The 30-share index opened slightly up at 82,753.53, but dragged in negative territory amid selling in IT, and banking heavyweights like TCS, Infosys, and HDFC Bank. The index hit an intraday low at 82,219.27.

Nifty settled at 25,111.45, down 100.60 points or 0.40 per cent.

“Indian equity benchmarks ended marginally lower as investors exercised caution amid subdued Q1 earnings announcements, particularly in the technology and banking sectors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd.

India’s three largest office markets -- Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai -- delivered a robust performance in the Asia-Pacific region in second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025), registering the highest second-quarter leasing volume on record, a report said on Thursday.

The three cities together leased 12.7 million square feet in Q2, up 20 per cent year-on-year (YoY), according to Knight Frank’s ‘Asia-Pacific Q2 2025 Office Highlights’ report.

Robust leasing activity translated to an acceleration in prime office rents, which rose 4.5 per cent YoY on average for the three markets.

Bengaluru remained the top-performing city, driven by Global Capability Centres (GCCs), while Delhi-NCR and Mumbai continued their upward trajectory in both leasing activity and rental value, as per the report.

After a challenging first half marked by margin compression and falling loan yields, India’s banking sector is set to turn the corner in the third quarter of FY26 (3QFY26), a report said on Thursday.

Private and public sector banks are entering a transition phase, where lagged benefits of deposit repricing, systemic liquidity infusion, and improving asset quality start to lift earnings, Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities said in a report.

As per the report, the recovery will be gradual but meaningful, setting the tone for FY27’s double-digit earnings growth.

Loan yields may decline amid a decline in the weighted average lending rate (WALR), but not equally.

While WALR on fresh loans fell for the system, private banks managed a month-on-month uptick, showing tactical flexibility. In contrast, public sector banks experienced a sharper 30 basis point decline over three months, the report stated.

With about 20 million square feet of leasing activity in January-June period (H1 2025) at 33 per cent growth, industrial and warehousing demand across the top eight cities remained robust, according to a report on Thursday.

Delhi-NCR and Chennai led the demand, cumulatively accounting for about half of the overall leasing in H1 2025.

Interestingly, among the top eight cities, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru saw impressive demand of at least 2 million square feet during the first half of the year, according to the Colliers report.

Third Party Logistics (3PL) players continued to be the primary drivers of space uptake in Grade A warehouses and industrial sheds, contributing to about 32 per cent share in overall demand during the first half of the year.

The Indian equity indices opened flat on Thursday, as markets looked for new triggers to break out of the consolidation range.

At 9.2 am, Sensex was down 15 points at 82,619 and Nifty was down 2 points at 25,210. Buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was up 123 points or 0.18 per cent at 59,741 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 70 points or 0.37 per cent at 19,210.

On the sectoral front, auto, pharma, FMCG, metal, realty, energy, infra and PSE were major gainers, while IT, PSU bank, financial services and media were major losers.

In the Sensex pack, Sun Pharma, M&M, Trent, Kotak Mahindra, Tata Motors, NTPC, BEL, Titan and Power Grid were major gainers. Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Eternal, Axis Bank, Infosys and HUL were major losers.

India achieved a significant milestone in strengthening its air defence capabilities with the successful trial of the indigenous ‘Akash Prime’ air defence system on Wednesday.

The Indian Army conducted the test at an altitude of around 15,000 feet in the Ladakh sector. The Akash Prime system, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), was tested in the presence of senior officials from the Army’s Air Defence wing and DRDO. This marks a major advancement in India’s mission to enhance its self-reliant defence infrastructure.

During the trial, surface-to-air missiles from the system registered direct hits on two high-speed aerial targets, demonstrating exceptional accuracy. The test was conducted in the rarefied atmosphere and extreme conditions of high-altitude terrain, where even basic operations can be challenging.

UIDAI has accessed 1.55 crore death records with the Registrar General of India for deactivating Aadhaar numbers of deceased persons as part of the proactive measures to maintain the continued accuracy and integrity of the Aadhaar database, the Ministry of Electronics and IT said on Wednesday.