India Daily Briefing

Alibaba raised $10.2 billion via Hong Kong share placement to fund full-stack AI infrastructure — chips, cloud, models, and applications — despite a 75% YoY profit crash. Management is signalling AI is an existential investment, not an optional upgrade. For Indian IT majors like TCS and Infosys competing for Asian enterprise AI mandates, Alibaba's scale and vertical integration sets a formidable benchmark.

The Hindu BusinessLine reported that India's solar cell imports are surging, displacing domestic demand that Indian cell manufacturers like Waaree and Adani Solar could have met. Every imported cell assembled into a module is a lost production opportunity for India's nascent cell sector, and the current BCD + DCR framework is insufficient to redirect demand. Monday's MNRE calendar and PLI uptake data are the near-term read.

Ray Dalio recommends investors cut bonds and allocate up to 15% to gold as US debt risk mounts — a thesis that resonates powerfully in India, where gold has a 10%+ portfolio weight in retail HNI allocations by default. The Dalio endorsement could accelerate SGB auction demand and gold ETF inflows in India. The Indian SGB premium vs physical gold will be Monday's first live signal.