Good morning. Politics turned to the streets of Delhi yesterday, while the economy got a rare vote of confidence from outside.
In today's newsletter: the Opposition's march on the Election Commission, a World Bank growth upgrade, and a pause in Mumbai's airport shake-up.
Closing levels · 6 October 2026
Sensex 73,067.81 ▲ 0.95% |
Nifty 50 22,776.10 ▲ 0.98% |
USD/INR 96.36 ▲ 0.02% · rupee weaker |
Brent Crude $101.15 ● 0.00% |
Sensex and Nifty rose almost 1% on Tuesday, while the rupee and Brent crude barely moved.
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi detained after Opposition MPs march on the Election Commission
More than 300 INDIA bloc MPs marched on the Election Commission on Tuesday, demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be removed over the revision of voter rolls (SIR).
Barricades stopped them, so Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others held a sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan near the poll panel's office. Police detained them that night and later released them.
Rahul called the SIR 'treason'. The Election Commission refused to meet the MPs, calling 240 MPs at the Parliament Annexe 'unusual and unacceptable'.
The SIR has flagged 13.39 crore voter-roll entries at the draft stage. If you have moved cities or homes, check your name on the draft roll now: the Election Commission says the claims-and-objections process is the safeguard against wrongful deletion.
Nearly half of the 13.39 crore flagged entries are voters marked as 'permanently shifted', which means migrants who work away from home are the group most exposed.
World Bank raises India's FY27 growth forecast to 7.1% from 6.6%
The World Bank lifted its forecast for India's growth this year to 7.1%, from 6.6% in April. The economy grew 7.8% in the first quarter.
The surprise is trade: the bank said exports have performed better than expected and are the main reason for the upgrade, alongside strong domestic demand.
It expects growth to slow later in FY27 before picking up again, and flagged higher global oil prices and El Nino-related disruption as the main risks.
Centre pauses Adani's plan to push a third of Mumbai's international flights to Navi Mumbai
Adani Airport Holdings had told airlines to shift 33% of their international flights from Mumbai's T2 to Navi Mumbai, or drop them, by October 25: 265 of 770 weekly slots, hitting 46 airlines.
Airlines objected, and the civil aviation ministry has now put the slot cuts on hold while everyone works on a transition plan.
This is a delay, not a reversal. Airlines and Adani must submit a firm roadmap, with meetings due by October 20, so expect schedule changes on Mumbai international routes later.
Breaking.exe
Mistral's big model. French lab Mistral AI released Mistral Large 4, a multimodal model it says can leapfrog both American and Chinese rivals. |
AI cloud cash. Nvidia-backed Lambda is raising up to $4 billion at a $14.5 billion valuation, led by Coatue and Blackstone, ahead of a planned 2027 IPO. |
JioHotstar abroad. JioHotstar is expanding into the Middle East by bundling inside Starzplay instead of launching its own stand-alone service there. |
Data centres halted. Finland ordered Google to halt work on two planned data centres over concerns about forest clearance. |
Finance 101
Money for small firms. The Cabinet approved a ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund to put equity, meaning ownership capital rather than loans, into small and medium businesses that struggle to raise it. |
Services pick up. India's services activity index rose to 55.2 in September from 54.1, a three-month high; any reading above 50 means the sector is growing. |
PW quits loans. PhysicsWallah is exiting student lending, selling its ₹96 crore book of education loans to Auxilo Finserve. |
Hollywood merger done. Paramount Skydance completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, bringing CNN and CBS News under David Ellison's control. |
Pangaea Revisited
Quebec votes. The separatist Parti Québécois is projected to win a minority in Quebec's election and has promised an independence referendum in the coming years. |
Ebola spreads. Kenya confirmed its first Ebola death, a man who lived in DR Congo, where more than 4,000 people have died of the disease this year. |
Pakistan missile test. Pakistan test-fired an extended-range version of its Fatah-4 cruise missile. |
Spy chief held. Germany arrested a former spy chief on suspicion of attempted treason and obtaining state secrets. |
Also, Also, Also
New captain. Smriti Mandhana was named India captain across all formats after Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down; she has led India in 18 T20Is and four ODIs. |
Iyer's century. Shreyas Iyer's maiden T20I hundred took India to a crushing win over West Indies after they set 171 in the first T20I. |
Physics Nobel. Francis Halzen, who led the team behind the IceCube neutrino detector, won the 2026 Physics Nobel for paving the way to a new kind of astronomy. |
New IAF chief. Vice Chief Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit was appointed the next Chief of Air Staff and takes charge on October 31. |