🏦 ₹450 Cr Urban Company shuffle before IPO

☀️ Good morning, it’s Monday!

If Monday were a person, it’d be that colleague who shows up at 9:00 AM sharp with a to-do list for you. But don’t worry — we’ve brewed your early-week survival kit: corporate drama, big-ticket IPO buzz, billion-rupee stake sales, and even SRK moonlighting as a delivery boy (on screen, of course).

Let’s stir it up.

🫖 Chai Shots

• 🍰 Britannia’s cake price hike flops: To tackle rising cocoa and palm oil costs, Britannia raised its cake prices from ₹10 to ₹15 earlier this year. But instead of boosting revenue, the move dented sales volumes, dragging category growth into the single digits in Q1 FY26. The company now admits digital payments haven’t made consumers immune to price sensitivity and is revisiting its strategy.

• 🚢 Exporters race against US tariff clock: Freight rates to the US are up 5–15% as exporters rush orders before the 50% tariff hike. Many are shifting to air cargo for urgent shipments, especially in electronics and pharma, to beat the deadline.

• 🏦 SBI MF, Permira eye ₹450 crore Urban Company stake: In pre-IPO secondary deals, SBI Mutual Fund, global investor Permira, and others will buy shares from early investors like Accel, Tiger Global, and Bessemer. Urban Company — valued at $1.8 billion. More in the Big Brew 👇

• ✈️ Air India kicks off ₹400 crore Dreamliner upgrade: All 26 Boeing 787-8s will get new interiors with business, premium economy, and economy cabins, upgraded avionics, and heavy D-check maintenance in Victorville, California. Retrofits finish mid-2027, with 777-300ER upgrades running till Oct 2028.

📈 Market Masala

• 📉 Six-week losing streak: Sensex closed at 79,857.79 and Nifty at 24,363.30, marking their longest fall since April 2020. Tariff fears, FII selling, and downward GDP revisions weighed, with realty and metals hit hardest.

• 🏨 BAT awaits RBI nod to exit ITC Hotels: British American Tobacco, ITC’s largest shareholder, plans to sell its 15.29% stake in ITC Hotels, a holding dating back to the early 1900s. RBI approval is needed as the deal involves a foreign entity cashing out of an Indian FDI stake.

• 🏢 Brookfield expands BKC presence via Jet Airways asset: Through Jet Airways’ insolvency process, Brookfield acquired a ₹370.25 crore office floor in Godrej BKC, matching Bank of Baroda’s bid using its right of first refusal. Brookfield now owns three contiguous floors (~2.5 lakh sq ft) in the premium tower, plus a management board seat. With BKC rents up ~30% in 3–4 years, the asset is a long-term bet on Mumbai’s commercial market.

• 🚗 Maruti: EVs still second/third cars for most buyers: Despite EV sales rising to 4.5% of July passenger vehicle sales from 2.5% last year, Maruti says range anxiety and lack of chargers keep EVs as secondary vehicles.

Looking at the Week Ahead:
Watch tariff news, FII flows, and earnings. Breaching 24,150 could trigger sharper selling.

🌏 Global Masala

• 📉 US stocks face CPI test: S&P 500 (+8% YTD) and Nasdaq are near highs, but Tuesday’s inflation data could pause the rally. Higher CPI may temper Fed rate cut bets, especially in seasonally weak August–September.

Looking at the Week Ahead:
CPI data, US–China tariff decisions, and Fed commentary are the key triggers. Tariff pass-through to consumer prices will be closely watched.

☕ The Big Brew — Urban Company’s ₹450 Cr Pre-IPO Shuffle

Urban Company is seeing major pre-IPO action as SBI Mutual Fund, Permira, and others prepare to buy ₹450 crore worth of shares from early backers in secondary deals. Early investors like Accel, Bessemer, Tiger Global, and Elevation Capital will partially exit, with no new funds going to the company.

The Gurugram-based unicorn filed for a ₹1,900 crore IPO in April — ₹429 crore fresh issue, ₹1,471 crore OFS — after turning FY25 profitable:

• 💰 ₹239.8 crore net profit vs ₹92.7 crore loss in FY24.

• 📈 38% YoY revenue growth to ₹1,144.5 crore.

• 📊 EBITDA swing from -₹119 crore to +₹11.1 crore.

• 🌍 Operations in 48 Indian cities + UAE, Singapore, Saudi Arabia.

What does this mean?
The turnaround and strong institutional interest set the stage for a high-profile listing. The challenge: sustaining profitability while scaling internationally in a competitive home services market.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🛒 Infibeam sells e-comm arm to Rediff for ₹800 crore: The slump sale — ₹400 crore in cash and the rest in equity — shifts Infibeam’s focus to CCAvenue and AI platform Phronetic.ai. Rediff will integrate the platform into its RediffOne suite to expand SME reach via Rediffmail, RediffPay, and its content platform.

• 💼 Zomato signs Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador: SRK joins Zomato’s campaign “Fuel Your Hustle,” which celebrates the grind behind India’s success stories. Expect to see him in more ads soon.

🤓 Chai Break Trivia

🥤 Did you know: Pepsi was originally called “Brad’s Drink” when invented in 1893. It got its current name in 1898, inspired by the digestive enzyme pepsin and the word “dyspepsia.”

🔮 What’s Brewing Next

• 📦 IPO wave incoming: Six IPOs worth ₹1,938 crore open this week, headlined by BlueStone Jewellery & Lifestyle’s ₹1,540 crore issue. Others bring diversity from publishing to infra.

And that’s your Monday brew — proof that in India, even a cake price tag can spark an earnings call autopsy, and SRK can go from blockbuster sets to food delivery billboards. Take this as your reminder: keep your week well-priced, well-planned, and maybe with a little less sugar than Britannia’s cakes. See you tomorrow for the next hot pour.