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Experts call for climate-resilient urban development on World Environment Day at ITPI in Telangana

Nilesh Shah recommends 4 investment bets that should be part of your portfolio

As geopolitical headwinds make it tougher for equity investors to make money, Dalal Street’s top voice Nilesh Shah, managing director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management, told a gathering of HNI investors at the ET Alpha Wealth Summit on Thursday that there are four specific investment structures which deserve a place in most portfolios right now.Shah’s first recommendation was the Special Investment Fund, or SIF, a structure that marks a meaningful shift in what is available to Indian investors. Shah noted that the mutual fund industry has, until now, been a long-only business but the SIF changes that. These are long-short, absolute return-oriented funds, designed to generate returns regardless of market direction rather than simply riding the equity tide.The second vehicle Shah flagged is performing credit AIFs. His reasoning was grounded in a simple supply-demand observation that for corporate settlements today, capital is not available from banks, mutual funds, or insurance companies.As institutional lenders have stepped back, borrowers are plenty and lenders very few. Amid this imbalance, Shah said the need is real and returns are attractive. Performing credit AIFs, which lend into this gap, are positioned to benefit directly from the scarcity of competing capital.https://youtube.com/shorts/Xa4AcXFg8hA?feature=shareThe third idea was REITs, and here Shah introduced a timing element. Over the last three years, REITs have delivered index-level returns of around 13.5%. But with interest rates rising, he suggested that the next six to nine months may present an opportunity to enter at better prices. Rising rates typically compress REIT valuations in the near term, and Shah framed any such correction as a potential entry point rather than a risk to avoid. Beyond the return potential, he positioned REITs as a portfolio diversification tool as the asset class behaves differently from equities and fixed income, and that is still underrepresented in most Indian investor portfolios.The fourth recommendation addressed global diversification but came with an important caveat. Mutual fund industry limits for overseas investment are currently full, which means the conventional route for Indian investors to access global markets through domestic mutual funds is closed. Shah pointed to Gift City as the workaround. Structures domiciled there allow investment under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, and in his view, these Gift City-based LRS products are the practical path for investors who want global exposure while the mutual fund window remains shut.Across all four — the SIF, performing credit AIFs, REITs, and Gift City products — Shah's underlying argument was the same: in a volatile period, the portfolio needs instruments that can generate positive returns through means other than a rising equity market.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

IT rally rages on! Infosys, TCS, other stocks jump up to 4% despite overall market weakness

The shares of Indian IT companies including Infosys, TCS and others continued to record sharp gains on Tuesday, pushing the Nifty IT over 3% higher even as the broader Nifty index slipped into the deep red.The Nifty IT index extended gains for the third consecutive session, jumping around 7% during the period to hit a high of 30,785 on Tuesday. Nifty crashed 3% during the same time to trade below 23,250.Infosys shares gained more than 4% to trade at Rs 1,257.90 apiece in the morning trading hours of Tuesday. The heavyweight IT stock has now gained nearly 9% in just three sessions. The shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) meanwhile jumped around 3.5%.Mphasis and LTI Mindtree shares jumped nearly 3% each, while HCL Technologies, Coforge, Tech Mahindra and Persistent Systems shares jumped around 2% each. Wipro shares were trading in the green with marginal gains.What’s driving the rally in IT stocks?The sharp surge in IT stocks comes after a significant decline earlier this year, following the launch of plug-ins for AI startup Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent, which could automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis. "We call it the ‘SaaSpocalypse,’ an apocalypse for software-as-a-service stocks," Bloomberg quoted Jeffrey Favuzza from the equity trading desk at Jefferies.While analysts continue to debate the future of IT companies following fresh AI advancements, investors were quick to analyse the cheap valuations, leading to some pockets of buying. Nuvama, in its note, had highlighted that the IT sector is setting up for a powerful comeback, not a collapse after the brutal AI-driven selloff.“We see no existential threat from Gen-AI,” the brokerage writes, arguing that enterprises will still need a “system integrator” to customise plug-and-play AI and software tools for their highly complex, brownfield technology stacks and to take ownership when “the system fails at 2 am.”The latest round of buying also comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next month, which would be the first under Chair Kevin Warsh. US President Donald Trump had selected Warsh partly on expectations that he would support lower borrowing costs to stimulate economic growth. However, rising inflation raised questions over the possibility of lowering rates."Indian IT firms are following suit of American companies like Anthropic and OpenAI by taking up contracts and tie-ups which are perceived as promising by investors," said Gaurav Sharma, head of Research, Globe Capital.Arbind Maheswari from BofA Securities told ET Now that the market globally is attracting flow towards only one story, at the front and centre of it is tech and AI. It is hard to pull away from that fact with a near-term vision. “There are people who believe that the whole business model of Indian IT services is put to question by the AI trade. The other side is that IT services companies will evolve and adapt and they have enough cash flow, they have the resilience, and they have shown this in the past where there were threats that seemed existential for the IT services space. This time obviously it is much bigger and it could last longer but I am sure there is enough that these companies have in them both in terms of depth of management and business models that they can evolve to adapt to the new AI world,” he added.Wipro to acquire additional stake in Aggne Global for $28.5 millionWipro announced that it will acquire an additional 20% stake in US-based insurtech company Aggne Global Inc through an all-cash transaction worth $28.5 million. The company said the transaction is expected to be completed by June 5.Earlier this year, the company acquired Mindsprint for $375 million as part of a broader $1 billion transaction with its parent, Olam Group. It also purchased select customer contracts from US-based Alpha Net Consulting LLC and its subsidiaries for $71 million.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Anant Raj shares rally 5% after signing Rs 25,000 crore Haryana Data Centre MoU

Shares of Anant Raj surged as much as 4.6% to Rs 563.25 in Tuesday's trade after the company announced a landmark partnership with the Government of Haryana to accelerate the state's digital infrastructure buildout.The real estate and infrastructure developer has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Centre (HEPC), marking a significant step in its ambitions to expand its data centre and cloud services business.The agreement was formalized on June 1, 2026, during the launch of the "Make in Haryana Policy & Other Sectoral Policies" event, presided over by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.Rs 25,000 crore investment planUnder the MoU, Anant Raj intends to invest around Rs 25,000 crore in building data centres and cloud infrastructure across Haryana. The move highlights the company's increasing emphasis on digital infrastructure as demand continues to grow for artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and data storage solutions.The partnership framework involves several key government departments and agencies, including:Haryana Enterprises Promotion Centre (HEPC)Department of Information Technology, Electronics & CommunicationHaryana State Electronics Development CorporationCitizen Resources Information DepartmentDepartment of Industries & CommerceThe agreement is designed to support Anant Raj's expansion of its Digital Infrastructure Business, encompassing both data centre operations and cloud services. The Haryana government, through HEPC, has committed to providing facilitation support and ease-of-doing-business assistance to help fast-track the project.The company said the arrangement aims to foster long-term cooperation between the state government and Anant Raj, positioning Haryana as a major hub for next-generation digital infrastructure investments.Anant Raj clarified that the MoU does not involve any shareholding arrangement, special rights, equity issuance, or related-party transaction. The agreement is focused solely on enabling investment and operational expansion in the state.Share price performance and technical indicatorsOver the past three years, the stock has delivered strong returns, rallying nearly 254%. The company currently commands a market capitalization of approximately Rs 19,406 crore.From a technical perspective, the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 61. An RSI reading below 30 typically indicates oversold conditions, while a reading above 70 suggests the stock may be overbought.The stock also exhibits strong bullish momentum, trading above all eight of its key Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), signaling a positive technical trend.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Coforge shares gain over 2% after unveiling agentic AI platform for insurance industry

Shares of Coforge rose more than 2% to their day’s high of Rs 1,495 on the BSE on Tuesday after the company announced the launch of its "Nexa Agentic AI Platform", a business platform that aims to cater to the global insurance industry.According to the company, the platform is designed to help insurers derive greater value from their existing insurance platforms and speed up time-to-market without replacing core systems. Instead, it layers AI orchestration capabilities over incumbent platforms while operating within the guardrails of leading platform providers.Built on the Coforge One AI platform, Nexa Agentic AI Platform offers a marketplace of more than 30 insurance AI assets covering underwriting, claims, product development, customer service and platform modernisation. The company said the platform is modular and composable, allowing insurers to deploy specific capabilities or adopt the full suite through an Insurance-in-a-Box model.Coforge said the platform is purpose-built for the global insurance market across Property & Casualty, Life & Annuities, Specialty insurance, as well as managing general agents (MGAs) and intermediaries. It incorporates human-in-the-loop oversight, full auditability and measurable outcomes.The platform includes six flagship orchestrators spanning the insurance value chain. These include an AI-enabled Submission Centre, which the company said can increase underwriting capacity by more than 30% through automated data extraction, validation and prioritisation.Another offering, the Agentic State Rollout Factory, is designed to automate rates, forms and filings across jurisdictions, enabling more than 25% faster realisation of new revenue. The AI-enabled Product Rollout Factory aims to accelerate product launches by 30% while improving quality and responsiveness to regulatory changes.Coforge also introduced an Agentic AI Global Expansion capability to support market entry across geographies, a Core Platform Modernisation capability that it said can reduce total cost of ownership by more than 30%, and an Agentic Claims Triaging Centre that can enable more than 35% faster claims triaging and higher straight-through processing.Rajeev Batra, Executive Vice President and Global Practice Head of Insurance at Coforge, said the platform combines the company's AI engineering capabilities with its insurance domain expertise to help clients scale AI adoption and business outcomes.Also read: Morgan Stanley says Indian stock market poised for strong year ahead. Here’s whyThe company said the platform is designed around key insurance stakeholders, including brokers, underwriters, claims adjudicators and customer service agents. Looking ahead, Coforge plans to progressively integrate insurance knowledge graphs into the platform to enhance insurance-specific reasoning across submissions, policies, claims and customer interactions.Coforge said Nexa Agentic AI Platform will form a key part of its insurance go-to-market strategy, helping clients accelerate AI adoption while preserving existing technology investments and complying with platform guardrails.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS and other IT stocks jump up to 5%. What’s driving the rally?

Shares of Indian IT companies, including heavyweights Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Persistent Systems jumped up to 5% on Monday as multiple tailwinds boosted investor sentiment, pushing the Nifty IT index up around 3% to emerge as the top sectoral gainer.The index rose to 29,905 in the morning trading hours of Monday, extending sharp gains for the second consecutive session. The index has now jumped nearly 4% over two days.The sharp surge in IT stocks comes after a significant decline earlier this year, following the launch of plug-ins for AI startup Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent, which could automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis. "We call it the ‘SaaSpocalypse,’ an apocalypse for software-as-a-service stocks," Bloomberg quoted Jeffrey Favuzza from the equity trading desk at Jefferies as saying.While doomsday prophets continue to debate the future of IT companies following fresh AI advancements, investors were quick to analyse the cheap valuations, leading to some pockets of buying. Nuvama, in its note, had highlighted that the IT sector is setting up for a powerful comeback, not a collapse after the brutal AI-driven selloff.“We see no existential threat from Gen-AI,” the brokerage writes, arguing that enterprises will still need a “system integrator” to customise plug-and-play AI and software tools for their highly complex, brownfield technology stacks and to take ownership when “the system fails at 2 am.”Also read: Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated! Why Nuvama is screaming buy on all top 10 IT stocksThe latest round of buying also comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next month, which would be the first under Chair Kevin Warsh. US President Donald Trump had selected Warsh partly on expectations that he would support lower borrowing costs to stimulate economic growth. However, rising inflation raised questions over the possibility of lowering rates.Technical view on Nifty ITThe Nifty IT index has witnessed a strong rebound after taking support near its crucial support zone, indicating the possibility of a short-term recovery in the sector, Kunal Kamble, Senior Technical Research Analyst at Bonanza had said. “On the hourly time frame, the index is currently forming an inverse Head and Shoulders pattern. A decisive breakout is seen above the neckline of this pattern and has triggered further upside momentum in the index. Such a move is likely to positively impact heavyweight IT stocks that share a high correlation with the index, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and HCL Technologies,” he added.Technically, the analyst had suggested that if the index manages to sustain above the 29,650 mark, it may open the door for a further recovery towards the 31,280 zone in the near term. However, he added that the current price action appears to be a retracement within the broader trend rather than a complete trend reversal. Therefore, traders should approach the sector with a cautious outlook.“Aggressive or high-risk traders may consider short-term trading opportunities in select IT counters, provided the index maintains strength above key support levels. On the downside, a breach below 28,800 could once again invite selling pressure across the Nifty IT index and associated IT stocks, potentially weakening the ongoing recovery structure,” he said.IT stocksPersistent Systems shares were the top gainers on the Nifty IT index, jumping nearly 5%. Infosys shares followed, surging nearly 4%. Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, LTI Mindtree and Coforge shares gained over 3% each.Also read: Wockhardt shares rocket 19% after FDA approval for antibiotic targeting drug-resistant infectionsTata Consultancy Services (TCS) and OFSS shares jumped around 2% each, while HCL Technologies and Wipro shares gained around 1% each.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

AI's hallucination problem is getting bigger, and what makes it worse

AI tools are becoming more convincing, but experts warn their tendency to confidently present false information is a growing concern. These systems, optimized for plausibility rather than truth, can mislead users in critical areas like research and healthcare. The risk of errors spreading due to unverified AI responses is significant, making detection harder.

AI Solves 80-Year-Old Math Problem That Stumped Experts For Decades

OpenAI researchers gave the problem to an advanced AI model.

Netweb Technologies jumps 15%, hits fresh 52-week high after rating upgrade

Shares of Netweb Technologies surged over 15% on Friday to hit their fresh 52-week high of Rs 4,680 on the NSE amid high volumes. The stock extended its gaining streak for the third session in a row, rising 21% in this period.The rally comes on the back of a ratings upgrade by CRISIL Ratings Limited. The company's Long-term rating has been upgraded to 'Crisil A+ / Stable'; while short-term rating reaffirmed to Crisil A1. Netweb offers computing solutions with fully integrated design and manufacturing capabilities. Its HCS offering comprises HPC, Private cloud and (HCI), AI systems and enterprise workstations, High performance storage (HPS) and Data Centre ServersCrisil Ratings believes NTIL will continue to benefit from the extensive experience of its promoters and established relationships with clients.The rating agency has also listed a slew of factors that will likely aid its growth. Among them are sustained revenue growth to over Rs 4,000 crore, with diversification across the end users earning steady operating margin at 13-14%, leading to higher-than-expected net cash accruals. Efficient working capital management leading to moderate dependence on debt and sustenance of healthy financial risk profile and liquidity will be another trigger according to CRISIL.It has also highlighted caveats that include the likelihood of decline in revenue below Rs 2,000 crores or fall in operating margin to below 11%, could lead to lower-than-expected net cash accrual. Meanwhile large, debt-funded capex or substantial increase in the working capital requirement, thus weakening the financial risk profile and liquidity.CRISIL shares have been market laggards, falling over 8% in 2026 while extending its decline to 24% over the past 12 months.Netweb Technologies reported Q4FY26 revenue from operations at Rs 774 crore, growing 87% year-on-year. Its operating EBITDA for Q4FY26 stood at Rs 97 crore while the adjusted operating EBITDA for Q4FY26 was Rs 102 crore, up 72% YoY, with a margin of 13.2%.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

As US firm worry about AI returns, tech CEO says: AI right now works only for coding

US corporations are scrutinizing massive AI investments as costs surge and productivity gains remain elusive. Experts suggest businesses might be overestimating AI's current capabilities, particularly outside of coding. This realization is prompting a shift towards more efficient AI usage, with some firms even cutting jobs to manage escalating AI expenses.