Mumbai, Aug 26: Indian equity benchmarks opened higher on Wednesday amid a sharp decline in oil prices with Brent crude decreasing by more than 2 per cent.

Sensex opened 236.01 points or 0.30 per cent higher at 77,892.10, while Nifty started the session increasing 7.40 points or 0.03 per cent at 24,341.95.

In early trade, sectoral performance was mixed with PSU banking shares leading gains. Nifty PSU Bank rose 1.4 per cent, followed by Nifty Realty, up 0.66 per cent and Nifty MidSmall Financial Services which gained 0.48 per cent. Meanwhile, Nifty Private Bank also rose 0.46 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty Metal fell 0.51 per cent which was top laggard. Nifty Auto declined, Nifty Healthcare Index, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables slipped up to 0.26 per cent.

Market sentiment was supported by easing crude oil prices amid reports of another ceasefire between the US and Iran and efforts to resume shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition, Brent crude was trading around $86 per barrel, a decline of more than 2 per cent. However, a decline in US bond yields, with the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.64 per cent, also offered some support to global equities.

Analysts said these factors may not be sufficient to trigger a sharp rally in Nifty as several heavyweight stocks remain technically weak.

The broader market is expected to provide leadership, supported by fundamentals and momentum, though stretched valuations remain a concern, according to them.

The experts noted that the rise seen in the previous session is expected to mature around the 24,400 level with the Nifty potentially extending gains towards 24,550 or 24,820. On the downside, 24,220 is seen as a key marker.

Additionally, Asian markets were trading mixed despite a decline in crude oil prices. Sentiment remained cautious after US index futures edged lower with investors awaiting Nvidia’s earnings announcement.

International benchmark Brent crude declined 2.81 per cent to around $86 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was seen at nearly $80.10 per barrel.

New Delhi, Aug 25: The government has revised the timeline for processing and selling duty-free imported raw sugar and allowed importers up to two months from the date of filing the bill of entry to convert the sugar into white or refined sugar and sell it in the domestic market.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) amended the modalities notified — earlier in August — for the import of 10 lakh tonnes of raw sugar under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme.

Under the earlier provision, raw sugar imported under the TRQ was required to be processed into white or refined sugar and sold in the domestic market by October 31.

The revised provision removes that fixed deadline and stipulates that importers must process and sell the imported raw sugar within a period not exceeding two months from the date of filing the Bill of Entry.

In addition, the government had on August 20 allowed duty-free imports of 1 million tonnes of raw sugar under the TRQ scheme until October 31 amid a sharp rise in domestic sugar prices ahead of the festive season.

However, the latest amendment does not change other terms and conditions of the August 20 notification.

The government had also permitted a one-time conversion of existing Advance Authorisations issued under SION E-52 into the TRQ scheme for raw sugar actually imported under those authorisations up to August 20.

The conversion covers refined sugar already produced as well as sugar to be produced from the imported raw sugar which is subject to payment of GST exempted at the time of import and other prescribed conditions.

The government’s decision comes as it steps up efforts to improve domestic sugar availability and contain price pressures ahead of the August-November festive period when demand typically rises.

Additionally, industry leaders and experts said that India has sufficient sugar stocks to meet domestic demand and prices are likely to moderate over the next few weeks as supplies improve.

The sharp increase in sugar prices over the past 15-20 days was driven largely by market sentiment, speculative buying and concerns over short-term supply, rather than any structural shortage, says ISMA Director General Deepak Ballani.

According to Ballani, sufficient sugar would remain available until the end of the current season on September 30 and the market situation is expected to improve shortly.

ISMA President Neeraj Shirgaokar also assured consumers that the country has adequate stocks and there would be no difficulty in meeting demand, including during the upcoming festive season.

New Delhi, Aug 25: Indian IT services companies are emerging as indispensable partners for leading global artificial intelligence labs as enterprises shift focus from model capability to deployment, integration and change management, a new report has said.

The Indian IT industry has traditionally owned these areas which help move pilots into production and such skills are in the spotlight of firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic, the report from brokerage UBS said.

OpenAI has flagged that demand for enterprise deployment of its coding assistant Codex outpaced its own capacity to help clients adopt it, prompting partnerships with global systems integrators (GSIs) including Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.

Anthropic also acknowledged that a successful pilot is different from a running system a business can actually depend upon, adding that companies that succeed with AI integration typically do so with partners who have executed such projects before.

Infosys features on both frontier labs’ partner roster and TCS is mentioned specifically among Anthropic’s partners.

The brokerage noted that firms feel that unclear return on investment, data readiness and governance are the major barriers to scaling AI deployments, rather than model performance itself.

Management commentary across nearly all major Indian IT companies during Q1 FY27 earnings season showed that clients demanded measurable outcomes, governance frameworks and stronger data foundations before committing to large-scale AI rollouts.

Infosys management mentioned that clients have increased allocation toward AI, infrastructure, data readiness and cloud platforms, indicating that data preparedness, not model access, is now the gating factor for AI implementation.

TCS also felt AI governance ranking among top priorities of enterprises, with clients demanding end-to-end accountability on return on investment even as their existing technology stacks often lack readiness for AI scaling.