🚪 Govt opens pension exit door - but only once

Good morning. SpaceX’s Starship just hit double digits completing its 10th flight.

The world’s biggest spacecraft is making repeat launches look almost… routine 🚀 

Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 🚪 Govt opens pension exit door - but only once

• 📈 Oyo’s IPO: third time’s the charm?

• Bite-sized summaries

  • 📊 Square Yards prepping for IPO

  • ✈️ More airports needed

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian equities rebounded (partially). The rally was led by IT stocks, with Infosys, TCS, and HCL Tech among top gainers. Optimism followed hints of a Fed rate cut, steady inflows, and global cues. Broader markets remained flat.

🌍️ International

• US markets declined after strong gains on Friday, as investors locked in profits and awaited major tech earnings. The stocks were weighed by losses in consumer staples, healthcare, and large-cap tech stocks. Anticipation for Nvidia’s results and inflation data fueled a cautious, corrective tone.

PENSION

🚪 Govt opens pension exit door - but only once

India’s pension math just got a shake-up. The government has rolled out a one-time, one-way switch for central government employees to move from the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) to the National Pension System (NPS).

Quick refresher:

• UPS = old-school security blanket. Think assured payouts and guaranteed benefits for life.

• NPS = market-linked returns, more flexibility, but no guaranteed monthly pension.

Until now, employees who opted into UPS were essentially locked in. The new rule cracks that door open—just once. Workers can switch to NPS before Sept 30, 2025, as long as they’re at least a year away from retirement (or three months in case of early retirement). But the offer doesn’t extend to those facing disciplinary action or dismissal.

Why it matters: This is the government’s way of nudging employees toward NPS, which shifts some pension burden off the state and ties retirement wealth to market growth. It’s also a recognition that younger employees might prefer the flexibility and potentially higher upside of NPS over the predictability of UPS.

The fine print: Once you switch, there’s no going back. You lose the “assured payouts” of UPS, but the government will contribute its share (4%) into your NPS corpus at exit.

Big picture: India is moving away from guaranteed, state-funded retirements toward market-driven ones. For employees, it’s a choice between safety now and (potentially) more growth later.

Read more: Economic Times

IPO

📈 Oyo’s IPO: third time’s the charm?

Hospitality giant Oyo is making another run at going public - this time aiming to file its draft IPO papers in November 2025 at a $7–8 billion valuation. If successful, it could be one of India’s biggest listings in years.

Backstory:

• Attempt #1 (2021): Oyo filed for a $12 billion IPO, but Covid and market volatility killed the mood.

• Attempt #2 (2023): It refiled with smaller issue size ($400–600 million), but Sebi pushed back with tough questions on valuation and lawsuits.

• Now (#3): Armed with 10 straight quarters of operating profits and a 172% jump in net income last year, Oyo thinks it’s finally ready.

Why it matters: Oyo’s rollercoaster is symbolic of India’s startup ecosystem maturing. Early pandemic-era hype gave way to harsh reality—valuations crashed to just $2.5 billion in 2023. Now, profitability is back in fashion, and Oyo wants to ride that wave.

For investors, this IPO is about more than hotels. It’s a litmus test: can Indian startups shed the “growth at all costs” tag and prove they can generate real, sustained profits?

The big picture: If Oyo pulls this off, it could reopen the IPO window for other unicorns waiting in the wings. If not, it risks cementing its reputation as the company that just couldn’t get its big break.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

📊 Square Yards prepping for IPO - Square Yards reported its first profitable Q1 in FY26 with revenue surging 45% year-on-year to ₹378 crore and EBITDA at ₹4.4 crore. Gross profit jumped 192%, with margins doubling to 18%. The platform handled over 55,700 transactions, achieving a Gross Transaction Value of ₹18,480 crore, up 84% YoY. Growth was broad-based: financial services revenue rose 60%, real estate 36%, and home renovations 21%, while digital products dipped. CEO Tanuj Shori said profitability in what is usually the weakest quarter shows the company’s resilient business model and strengthens confidence in meeting ambitious FY26 growth targets.

✈️ More airports needed - India plans to more than double its airports from 162 to 350 by 2047 as part of the government’s “Viksit Bharat” vision, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu announced. He said civil aviation is India’s fastest-growing sector and a key driver of development, with 88 airports added in the past 11 years, including in smaller cities. New projects include a terminal at Bhubaneswar airport and an upcoming airport in Puri. The government also aims to expand heliports in hilly regions, promote seaplane services, and build flight training centres to meet demand for pilots, boosting connectivity across India.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

• GST cut: Major plan on agenda for all food, textile items

• 'How will I pay workers?': Indian factories hit hard by Trump's 50% tariffs

• Keurig Dr Pepper will buy a Dutch coffee group for over $18 billion and split into two companies.