Good afternoon, wonderful people, and a very happy Christmas Eve! The news slowdown has definitely arrived this afternoon, as many Indians are looking forward to a long-ish weekend, kicking off with the Christmas holiday tomorrow.

India’s AI and data center surge is projected to take up 20% of the nation’s power demand over the next few years, with a peak projected at 817 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030. This electrifying demand surge is, predictably, opening up new avenues for investment for Gulf SWFs, who are already quite fond of backing India’s leading energy firms.

In October, FDI outflows from India actually outpaced inflows, according to the central bank’s latest data release. Amid record selling by foreign investors in Indian equities this year, this unexpected FDI outflow was an extra hit for the INR, currently the worst-performing currency in Asia.

AND- We have a year-end roundup of India’s record-breaking IPO season, where 103 companies managed to collectively rake in some INR 1.76 tn in 2025. Time to dive into all those newly minted banknotes.

** A QUICK PROGRAMMING NOTE- EnterpriseAM MENA<>India will be off on Friday. We’ll be back in your inboxes at the usual hour on Monday with everything you may have missed over the long weekend.

Watch this space

IPO — India’s hospitality unicorn Oyo Rooms is planning to raise up to INR 66.5 bn (USD 742 mn) through an IPO after its parent company Prism secures shareholders for the listing, PTI reports. Oyo counts Japan’s SoftBank as a major investor — it raised USD 2 bn from Soft Bank’s Vision Fund, which is reportedly backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to Arab Business.

Gulf footprint: Oyo is rapidly expanding in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. It launched the Sunday Hotels brand in Dubai in February with plans to add up to 15 more Sunday-branded properties in the city, Hospitality Net reports. It launched its Saudi Arabia operations in 2019 with 3k rooms across seven cities, according to News Minute.

AVIATION — IndiGo, India’s largest air carrier, has reportedly entered into wet-lease agreements for seven aircraft — two from Qatar Airways and five Airbus A320s from Turkey-based Freebird Airlines — to support domestic operations, The Hindu Businessline reports, citing industry sources. The aircraft are expected to be inducted between December 2025 and January 2026.

Zoom out: The Indian government recently directed IndiGo to cut its domestic winter schedule by 10%, following the cancellation of over 4k flights in early December after the airline failed to adequately manage new pilot rest regulations. Beyond pilot availability constraints, IndiGo has grounded several aircraft due to ongoing Pratt & Whitney engine issues, as well as delays in aircraft deliveries from manufacturers.

Separately, India’s aviation regulator has increased scrutiny of IndiGo’s Turkey-linked wet-lease arrangements after Ankara allegedly backed Pakistan during the May India-Pakistan clash, according to The Hindu. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has said IndiGo can operate five wet-leased Boeing 737s from Turkey until 31 March 2026, with a “sunset clause” barring any further extension.

FX — India’s central bank moved to stabilize the INR on Tuesday, conducting foreign-exchange swaps after USD-INR onshore forward yields had surged to multi-year highs, Bloomberg reports.

The Reserve Bank (RBI) of India reportedly carried out buy-sell FX swaps across maturities of up to one year, including short-tenor transactions, the newswire added. In such transactions, the RBI buys USD from lenders and commits to selling them back at a later date, helping ease liquidity pressures in the forward market.

Why it matters: For Gulf banks, sovereign investors, and corporates with INR exposure, forward-market stability is critical to managing hedging costs and returns on Indian assets. The elevated hedging costs had begun to erode foreign investor returns, contributing to outflows from Indian bonds and equities this month. The RBI’s move signals a willingness to intervene in funding markets to limit spillovers from currency defence — an important consideration for investors allocating capital to India.

MEANWHILE- India’s benchmark Nifty 50 has surged 10.47% in INR terms in 2025 so far, but currency depreciation has eroded returns for foreign investors. In USD terms, returns stand at 5.44%, the lowest among major global equity benchmark indices, The Hindu Businessline reports. This erosion is driven by the INR’s depreciation of over 5.5% against the USD, which has reduced returns for foreign investors. Foreign portfolio investors have pulled out more than INR 1.55 tn (c. USD 17.2 bn) from Indian equities as of late December.

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Data point

USD 10.4 bn — institutional investments in India’s real estate sector in 2025, up 17% from USD 8.88 bn a year earlier, The Hindu Businessline reports. Domestic institutions accounted for 52% of total inflows, while offshore investors contributed the remaining 48%.

The big story abroad

Gold surged past the USD 4,500 an ounce this afternoon—hitting an all-time high of USD 4,525. Silver also hit a record peak of USD 72.70.

The US economy grew at a brisk 4.3% clip in the third quarter of the year, backed by consumer spending on healthcare and computing. That’s well ahead of the 3.2% pace at which analysts polled by Bloomberg expected the economy to expand. Investment by businesses slowed and exports fell in the same period.

Oil-price watchers, take note: The US has moved special operations forces into the Caribbean, ratcheting up pressure on Venezuela’s government. Washington is already enforcing a blockade of oil tankers moving into and out of the Latin American country.

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