Sector Updates

In our monthly Hotels update we have summarized key events of the domestic hotel industry, new hotels signing/addition by key players during the month and pricing trend of key cities for September, 2025. We have analyzed pricing of 171 hotels with ~33,000 keys across 8 cities to understand the trend over last 24 months (Exhibit 1-8). The industry witnessed yet another month of improved ADR. Though it is a seasonal phenomenon of firming up ADRs on the onset of festive, we anticipate better than expected ADR growth, primarily supported by domestic travel boost and wedding season. The ADR growth was impressive on lower price bracket in select markets...

During Sep-25, Indian steel prices fell 2% MoM to Rs48,500/tonne, while Chinese steel prices declined by 6% MoM to $470/tonne impacted by seasonal demand weakness and changes in export tax regulations that led to front-loading by exporters. Coking coal prices increased 6% MoM to $164/tonne, driven by supplyside disruptions amid the monsoon. In Aug-25, Indian steel production rose by 0.7% MoM to 14.1 mn tonnes. Estimated Chinese steel output declined by 3% MoM to 77 mn tonnes amid government-mandated environmental sanctions and sluggish domestic demand, while global steel production contracted by 3% MoM to 145 mn tonnes. Chinese steel exports decreased by 3% MoM and were flat YoY to 9.5 mn tonnes, as...

At present, we continue to prefer banks with promising growth prospects, healthy deposit franchises, stable asset quality metrics, and strong and steady management teams.

The RBI MPC maintained the policy repo rate at 5.5% and reiterated its neutral stance, as most of the domestic high frequency indicators suggest that economic activity continued to remain resilient, despite global tariff-related uncertainties.

Indian HRC: Indian HRC prices decreased by 0.8% WoW to Rs 48,700/tonne, amid limited purchases as buyers resort to need-based buying due to the slowdown from festive holidays and post-GST cuts traders are still gauging their effect on pricing and demand. Billet-Ex-Raipur: Billet prices decreased by 1.1% WoW to Rs 36,500/tonne, as buying activity remains weak, weighed down by...

Credit card spends moderated in Aug'25, declining by ~1.5% MoM (vs a ~6% increase July'25), while YoY growth stood at ~13.6% (vs ~12.2% in July'25). Cards-in-force reached ~112.3Mn as of Aug'25, up ~6.5% YoY with limited sequential growth. Net new card additions improved to ~6.9 lakhs (vs ~4.2 lakhs in July'25), with HDFCB (~2.2 lakhs), AXISB (~1.4 lakhs) and SBI (~0.7 lakh) leading issuances. Transaction volumes posted a modest ~1.5% MoM rise (vs ~6% increase in July'25) and ~26% YoY growth (vs ~27% in July'25). Looking ahead, we expect September'25 to witness a pickup in spends, supported by festive seasonality, recent GST cuts, and aggressive discounting...

The US Government on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, announced fee hike to US$100k for applicants to the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers starting with FY26 lottery cycle. The one-time fee applicable on all companies (Indian/US) that use the...

Textile companies are focusing on diversification as risk mitigating strategy with focus on diversifying the production base in other countries and improve the regional mix and not to depend on single country/region in the near future....

In August, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose to 2.1%, while Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation reached a four-month high of 0.5%. Food-driven pressures surfaced even as core inflation remained stable, and most of the CPI basket stayed below 4%.

CLSA highlights that inflation in over 70% of the CPI basket has fallen below 4%, marking a record low. The brokerage expects vegetable deflation to persist through November, keeping headline inflation in the 1–2% range before it edges up toward 4% by early 2026. It anticipates the RBI will hold rates in October but may leave room for a cut in December.