Indian stock markets struggled on Monday, with the Nifty 50 declining 157 points, or 0.70%, to close at 22,363 as rising bond yields, sustained foreign institutional investor outflows and global uncertainties weighed on sentiment. According to The Economic Times, attention now shifts to forthcoming quarterly earnings announcements from major players like HCL Technologies, RBL Bank, and ICICI Prudential AMC, with these results expected to influence investor outlook significantly. The technical outlook shows immediate support at 22,300 with resistance levels at 22,420 and 22,650.
HCL Technologies emerged as the standout performer with a 21.18% year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to ₹5,132 crore for Q2FY27, compared with ₹4,236 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. According to reports from The Financial Express, the IT services company also reported revenue from operations rising 11% to ₹35,620 crore versus ₹34,579 crore in the previous quarter, beating analyst estimates of ₹35,547 crore. The company's EBIT increased 10.9% to ₹6,465 crore with EBIT margin expanding to 18.1% from 16.7% in the June quarter. Notably, HCLTech added 6,450 employees in Q2FY27, marking the highest quarterly resource addition in 16 quarters, while attrition rate fell to 12.8% from 12.7% in the April-June quarter. The company declared its second interim dividend of ₹12 per equity share with a record date of October 16, 2026, and payment scheduled for October 26. However, recent brokerage updates show mixed sentiment with Kotak Securities maintaining Reduce rating while hiking target price to ₹1220 and Citi maintaining Sell with target price increased to ₹1050, citing margin surprises but product disappointments.
ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company reported robust financial performance with PAT increasing 6.08% year-on-year to ₹888.96 crore for the September quarter. As reported by The Financial Express, revenue from operations grew 16.31% to ₹1,673.79 crore from ₹1,439.06 crore in the year-ago period. The company approved its highest-ever interim dividend of ₹30 per equity share, significantly higher than the ₹14.85 per share announced in January 2026. However, total expenses increased 17.86% to ₹493 crore from ₹418.31 crore in the previous year. Recent brokerage updates from Jefferies show maintaining Buy rating with target price increased to ₹3760 from ₹3600, highlighting Q2 results that beat expectations led by higher revenue yields.
RBL Bank demonstrated strong financial performance with net profit surging to ₹482 crore in Q2FY27 compared with ₹179 crore in the corresponding period last year, representing a 170% increase from the previous year. According to reports from The Financial Express, net interest income increased 37.5% year-on-year to ₹2,131 crore from ₹1,550 crore. The bank showed significant improvement in asset quality with gross NPAs declining to 1.02% from 1.30% and net NPAs falling to 0.29% from 0.37% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Recent brokerage updates from Citi maintain Buy rating with target price of ₹505, noting strong NIM beat tempered by elevated provisioning while RoA recovery is on the horizon.
HCLTech's Advanced AI revenue for Q2 rose to $219 million, up 28.4% sequentially and 78% year-on-year in constant currency, representing nearly 6% of total revenue with an annualized run-rate of close to $900 million. The company secured new bookings of $3.26 billion, up 27% year-on-year, taking first-half bookings to a record high and providing visibility into coming quarters. HCLTech announced a global premier partnership with Anthropic to expand enterprise AI adoption through dedicated business units and centers of excellence. The company is building an "AI Factory" for a US-based AI-native company, scaling infrastructure for a US neocloud provider, and deploying ChatGPT Enterprise for a US healthcare provider while securing Advanced Partner status with OpenAI. Recent developments include HCLTech signing a global premier partnership with Anthropic to scale Agentic AI across enterprises through dedicated business units and centers of excellence.
IRCON International received a Letter of Acceptance for a ₹862.46-crore contract from East Central Railway for track works and railway material supply for the Son Nagar-Andal project. As reported by The Economic Times, the contract covers third and fourth railway lines with work spanning the Gomoh-Koderma section and Gaya-Son Nagar section. Nazara Technologies announced significant management changes with Arun Agrawal appointed as CFO effective October 16, 2026, while Whole-time Director Rohit Sharma will step down in January 2027 and Managing Director Nitish Mittersain will transition to founder and non-executive director. Gujarat Fluorochemicals received positive brokerage attention with ICICI Sec upgrading to Buy from Add with target price increased to ₹5380 from ₹5050, citing India's largest battery materials portfolio and upcoming inflection point with LFP cathode materials expected to commence commercial supplies in H2FY28.
