Finance

Mahindra Finance outlines AI-led growth, financial inclusion, stronger risk management and leadership focus at its FY26 AGM.

The changing sentiment is now visible across the ecosystem. According to reports, Citigroup bankers are projecting a rebound in IPO activity despite the current slowdown.

Bengaluru continued to overwhelmingly dominate Karnataka’s startup funding landscape, accounting for 98 per cent of total capital raised during the quarter at USD 848 million.

Large firms are becoming more selective. Emerging managers are spinning out to build focused strategies. And policymakers are increasingly treating alternative capital not merely as startup funding, but as a strategic pillar of India’s long-term economic growth architecture.

The developments underline how India’s capital markets are becoming central not only for growth financing, but also for governance compliance, real estate monetisation, and investor liquidity.

2026 may ultimately be remembered less as a year of exuberance and more as the year India’s private capital ecosystem matured.

The era of easy money may be over, but India’s startup ecosystem continues to demonstrate depth, maturity, and long-term investor relevance.

The opportunity lies less in backing pure-play AI startups and more in enabling the broader ecosystem, tools, infrastructure, and applied use cases that will define India’s AI trajectory.

Underneath the movement, the headlines, and the changing prices, the core unit is usually much simpler than people expect

The offering, powered by Republic, marks Bitget’s expansion beyond conventional secondary market trading into primary market access

With times changing, governance, risk, and compliance - commonly referred to as GRC- has emerged as a critical factor in funding decisions

Many EMI miscalculations occur not because the tool is inaccurate, but because borrowers enter incorrect figures or rely on assumptions instead of precise information.

Fractal’s IPO drew moderate investor demand, eventually closing with a subscription of roughly 2.66-2.81 times the shares on offer.

Late-stage funding recorded a slight decline compared to 2024, but remained significantly higher than 2023 levels, as seed and early-stage investments declined compared to previous years.

The PMS, which is branded as ‘InvestValue India Winners’, will invest across market capitalisations, with a focus on companies expected to benefit from structural shifts in the economy, such as formalisation, rising consumption, manufacturing growth, and digital transformation.

Today, a new set of companies, including hyper-local, kitchen-first platforms like Swish, are attracting large cheques, despite operating in what appears to be an already “solved” category. What exactly are investors seeing that others don’t?

India looks to unlock $30-trillion US market for exports across key sectors but what are its leverages?

India’s startup IPO surge has delivered mixed results, with many listings struggling post-debut, while traditional companies quietly generate steadier investor returns.

Among the wave of tech companies preparing to get listed in 2026, two standouts are InMobi, the country’s first unicorn, and Fractal Analytics, a deep-tech AI and analytics firm.

As capital becomes more selective, India’s fintech ecosystem appears to be entering a consolidation phase, one where fewer companies raise larger, more patient rounds.

Budget 2026 shifts focus from subsidies to infrastructure, but success will hinge on execution and last-mile credit delivery.

Total funding nearly doubled year-over-year, largely driven by Raphe mPhibr’s USD 100M Series B round led by global investments firm General Catalyst. The number of annual funding rounds increased from 5 in 2016 to 42 in 2024, before moderating in 2025 YTD.

As India heads into Union Budget 2026, expectations across markets and industry remain restrained. After several years of elevated pandemic-era spending, the government is firmly back on a fiscal consolidation path, narrowing the deficit from over 9 per cent of GDP in FY21 to 5.6 per cent in FY24, 5.1 per cent in FY25 (RE), and a budgeted 4.9 per cent in FY26. 

The key investment themes of 2026 are already visible on the horizon, having been formed mainly in the current year.

Their retreat is not episodic or tactical; it reflects a deeper reset in global capital allocation, fund economics, and India’s late-stage opportunity structure.

Budget 2025 reinforced a capital-led growth rulebook, prioritised public capex, manufacturing-linked incentives, and long-term innovation financing. This was supposed to act as a lever to rope in private investment rather than relying on broad fiscal stimulus.