iPhones see brisk sales, IPOs line up next week, and UPI offers spending clues — Editor’s Picks from Moneycontrol
iPhone 17 hit the stores today, and sales were off to a brisk start. Pre-orders in India have topped iPhone 16 levels, signalling strong demand for Apple’s latest models, Danish Khan reports. The iPhone 17 series is expected to contribute 15-20% of Apple’s projected 5 million iPhone shipments in the September quarter, despite older models still retaining demand. Cosmic Orange has emerged as a top colour choice.
India’s IPO market is set for another blockbuster week. Ravindra Sonavane reports that 22 initial public offerings — eight on the mainboard and 14 in the SME segment — are seeking to raise close to Rs 5,000 crore. The surge reflects surging retail interest, steady institutional participation, and buoyant sentiment in secondary markets, with high-growth sectors dominating the pipeline.
India’s push to develop AI capabilities locally is taking shape with the selection of eight companies, including BharatGen and Fractal Analytics, to build foundational models. Rishi Bal, executive vice president of BharatGen, told Aihik Sur that the IIT Bombay-led startup is building a one trillion-parameter LLM, which will be distilled into smaller systems for specific sectors. Bhavya Dilipkumar reports that Fractal Analytics is developing India’s first large reasoning model, a 70 billion-parameter system focused on healthcare and STEM. Meanwhile, Meta’s Alex Schultz said India has the potential to become a leading exporter of AI tech, particularly chatbots for businesses and AI-first digital agencies.
The digital economy is offering new clues about how Indians are spending. UPI transactions are showing which sectors are thriving and which are struggling. According to Ishaan Gera, UPI payments at fast-food outlets surged 255% in April–August from the same period in 2023, while transactions at department stores saw a dramatic plunge nearly 80%.
Meanwhile, the government is exploring a shift in how it evaluates state-run companies. It is considering technology adoption and artificial intelligence (AI) deployment as new benchmarks for PSU classification under the Maharatna-Navratna-Miniratna framework, moving beyond traditional financial metrics such as net worth, turnover, and profitability, reports Meghna Mittal.
In an interview with Shweta Punj and Priyansh Verma, Sanjeev Sanyal, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, says the government has signalled to the industry that GST cuts should be passed through in retail prices, but it doesn’t want to create another ‘inspector raj’ to enforce it, trusting public pressure will play a role. Watch the full interview here. In a separate interview, economist Rajiv Kumar told Shweta that India needs a new way to measure growth, replacing GDP with gross welfare product. Check out the full conversation here.
The proposed free trade agreement between India and the European Union may take at least a year to come into effect after signing, given the lengthy ratification processes in the 27-nation bloc, Adrija Chatterjee reports. India and the EU are looking to conclude talks for a trade deal by the end of the year.
Pakistan is carving out new export markets. It now supplies 9% of Nigeria’s defence imports, even as China cements its role as Islamabad’s dominant supplier with 81% of Pakistan’s defence needs in 2019-2024. With deals with Qatar, Bahrain, and Nigeria, Pakistan’s defence ties are expanding well beyond Saudi Arabia, reflecting a strategic pivot: more naval projection, deeper integration with China, and an export push into Africa and the Gulf.
And finally, for a lighter read, don’t miss the MC Insider. Today’s edition features posts on hot seat blues, Diwali poker nights and a GST curveball, offering a peek behind the corporate curtain.
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