Stocks To Watch, Sept 23: Persistent-Nagarro, Tata Sons, HDFC Bank

Two genuine surprises are colliding on Dalal Street this Wednesday. The Reserve Bank of India is quietly vetting an ICICI Group veteran, not an internal HDFC Bank name, to run the country’s largest private lender, while an Indian IT major has just agreed to delist a listed German company from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in one of the biggest outbound acquisitions the sector has seen.

Layer on a ₹1.51 crore regulatory close-out on the Adani Group’s three-year-old Hindenburg overhang, a political heavyweight publicly taking sides in the Tata Sons succession fight, and a ₹213.48 crore Punjab order that got mislabelled as a water-scheme contract in at least one wire report, and September 23 is shaping up to be one of the more information-dense sessions of the month.

That’s against a market that just lost momentum. The Nifty50 snapped a four-day winning streak on Tuesday, closing 85.30 points (0.36%) lower at 23,329.00, while the Sensex fell 329.91 points (0.44%) to 74,529.08, dragged by IT and select financial heavyweights including TCS, Tata Consumer Products and Trent.

Brent crude offered some relief, slipping below the $100-a-barrel mark on reports of a possible US-Iran diplomatic opening. Institutional flows stayed split; Foreign Institutional Investors sold ₹576.20 crore on Monday, September 21, even as Domestic Institutional Investors bought ₹2,797.27 crore, cushioning the fall.

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Against that mixed backdrop, Wednesday’s session carries an unusually heavy load of company-specific triggers, spanning a marquee cross-border buyout, two separate CEO-succession stories, a boardroom fight at India’s largest conglomerate, and a cluster of small-cap order wins.

Large-Cap Corporate Actions Take Centre Stage

Persistent Systems To Delist Nagarro After $1.25-Billion-Plus Buyout

Persistent Systems, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Galaxy Germany Holding SE, announced on September 22 that its voluntary public takeover offer for Nagarro SE succeeded, with 61.15% of Nagarro’s outstanding shares tendered during the acceptance period that closed on September 17.

Combined with a 22.10% stake secured earlier this year from Lantano Beteiligungen GmbH, Persistent’s total holding now stands at 83.25%, comfortably above the 50%-plus-one threshold needed for the offer to go through.

Under German takeover law, a further two-week acceptance window opened September 23 and runs until October 6, giving remaining Nagarro shareholders a chance to tender at the same EUR 81-per-share cash price.

Persistent has said it intends to delist Nagarro from the regulated Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which would remove it from Germany’s SDAX index, as soon as legally feasible, with the transaction expected to close by the end of Q1 CY27, subject to remaining regulatory approvals.

Persistent Systems shares closed 1.52% lower at ₹5,366 on the NSE in the previous session, down 15% year-to-date even as they remain up 14% over six months.

HDFC Bank’s Next CEO Now Has A Front-Runner

HDFC Bank’s leadership search has narrowed to two names, and one is no longer a secret. The RBI has begun seeking feedback on Anup Bagchi, currently MD & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and a three-decade ICICI Group veteran, consulting both insurance regulator IRDAI and ICICI Bank CEO Sandeep Bakhshi as part of its assessment, a check on how a candidate with three years outside mainstream banking would handle India’s largest private lender.

The internal alternative is HDFC Bank’s own Deputy Managing Director Kaizad Bharucha, whose candidacy carries a separate regulatory wrinkle: he would hit the RBI’s 15-year cap on continuous tenure as a whole-time director, MD or CEO in June 2029.

Neither candidate has been officially named by the bank, its September 12 board decision, which sent two names to the RBI in order of preference, remains subject to RBI approval, and that approval, not board preference, will decide the outcome before incumbent Sashidhar Jagdishan’s October 26 exit.

The search reportedly began from a pool of over 150 applicants before narrowing to this final two. Separately, the board approved Jimmy Tata, the bank’s chief credit officer since 2013, as an additional executive director and reappointed V. Srinivasa Rangan as a whole-time director for a further year from November 23.

HCLTech Wins Multi-Site UK Infrastructure Contract

Against a session in which IT stocks were among the biggest drags on the index, HCLTech landed a fresh order win: the company has been selected by M Group, a UK and Ireland essential-infrastructure services provider, to modernise IT operations across more than 200 locations spanning its water, energy, transport, defence and public-sector business lines, using HCLTech’s AI Force platform for AI-led managed services.

Neither company disclosed a contract value or duration in their announcements, so the deal’s revenue contribution remains unquantified for now, a detail worth keeping in mind before treating this as a scale-defining win.

Tata Sons Chairmanship Row Draws Political Weigh-In

The dispute over N. Chandrasekaran’s leadership of Tata Sons escalated further on Tuesday when NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) president Sharad Pawar urged both sides to resolve the matter through dialogue and adherence to the company’s Articles of Association, while broadly backing the institutional standing of Tata Trusts.

The flashpoint was a September 17 Tata Sons board meeting where directors voted to reappoint Chandrasekaran as executive chairman for a further five-year term from February 2027 and to advance steps towards a possible listing of the holding company.

Tata Trusts, which together hold roughly 66% of Tata Sons, have since argued the vote is invalid, citing Article 121 of the Articles of Association, which they say requires affirmative support from a majority of Trust-nominated directors.

Of the two Trust nominees on the board, Chairman Noel Tata voted against the reappointment while fellow nominee Venu Srinivasan supported it; Tata Sons maintains the resolution was validly passed. Note: the reappointment and listing steps remain board-approved decisions under active dispute, not concluded transactions.

SEBI Closes ₹1.51-Crore Hindenburg-Era Case Against Five Adani Firms

The Securities and Exchange Board of India settled adjudication proceedings against Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, AWL Agri Business and Adani Energy Solutions over alleged non-disclosure of related-party transactions and audit reports signed without valid peer-review certificates, matters that trace back to the 2023 Hindenburg Research report.

Adani Enterprises paid the largest share at ₹76.05 lakh, Adani Green Energy ₹45.50 lakh, and the remaining three companies ₹9.75 lakh each, taking the total settlement to ₹1.51 crore.

SEBI’s order, passed by Adjudicating Officer Jai Sebastian, closed proceedings that originated from a February 2024 show-cause notice, with the companies settling without admitting or denying the underlying findings, a distinction worth holding onto, since the settlement order doesn’t foreclose SEBI’s ability to act again if settlement conditions are breached.

The development follows an earlier, separate $18-million settlement the group reached with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to media reports.

Small & Mid-Cap Movers: Order Books, Launches and a Regulatory Notice

Sugs Lloyd Rallies On Punjab Power Order — Not a Water Scheme

Noida-based EPC firm Sugs Lloyd hit its 4.99% upper circuit to close at ₹258.65 after securing a ₹213.48 crore Letter of Award for HT and LT infrastructure loss-reduction works in Punjab.

The contract runs under the central government’s Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), a power-distribution modernisation programme, distinct from any drinking-water initiative, and will be executed as a subcontractor to Marshal Enterprises on a back-to-back basis, with formal approval from Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.

The order, valued at roughly 2.7 times the company’s Q1 FY27 operating revenue and about 35% of its market capitalisation, has a 15-month execution timeline and follows a separate ₹214.27 crore Odisha win earlier in September, together expanding Sugs Lloyd’s backlog well past its Q1 FY27 order book of ₹807 crore.

Solex Energy Targets ₹4,500 Crore Revenue By FY28

At its 12th Annual General Meeting on September 22, Solex Energy laid out a target to more than double consolidated revenue to over ₹4,500 crore by FY28, up from ₹1,621.1 crore (consolidated) in FY26, when the company also reported EBITDA of ₹186.7 crore and net profit of ₹98.3 crore.

Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Chetan Shah, reappointed to the role at the same meeting, outlined a roughly ₹4,000 crore capex programme for FY27-FY30 to build 2.2 GW of solar cell capacity by FY28 (scaling to 5.2 GW by early FY29) and a first 5 GWh phase of battery energy storage capacity by FY29, alongside plans for Solex Europe and Solex USA units.

Shareholders also approved a final dividend of ₹0.55 per share for FY26. Separately, Solex’s June-quarter (Q1 FY27) standalone sales rose a modest 0.5% year-on-year to ₹261 crore, while net profit of ₹8.25 crore was sharply lower than the year-ago period, a reminder that the FY28 target is aspirational guidance, not a confirmed run-rate. The stock closed at ₹678.95, down 1.89%, in the previous session.

Sapphire Foods Faces Second, Larger GST Notice This Year

Sapphire Foods India, a major YUM Brands franchisee, has received a show-cause notice from the Deputy Commissioner (CT) in Chennai alleging a GST demand of ₹516.84 crore, inclusive of tax, interest and penalty, for the FY24 assessment period, citing excess Input Tax Credit availment.

The company has called the computation erroneous and says it expects no material impact on operations. This is Sapphire’s second Tamil Nadu GST dispute in 2026: in May, it received show-cause notices totalling ₹97.71 crore for FY22-FY24, which Tamil Nadu’s Assistant Commissioner (Koyambedu) dismissed in the company’s favour through orders dated June 23 and June 26.

The new notice, at more than five times that amount, adds a fresh contingent liability even as Sapphire continues work on its proposed merger with Devyani International.

A show-cause notice is not itself a final adjudicated liability, so the ₹516.84 crore figure should be read as the company’s exposure if the tax authority’s position prevails, not as a confirmed payment. The stock closed 0.47% lower at ₹237.24 in the previous session; Sapphire’s Q1 FY27 (consolidated) revenue stood at ₹888.2 crore.

Prostarm Info Systems To Switch On 1.2 GWh BESS Plant

Prostarm plans to commence commercial operations across three facilities on September 25: its 1.2 GWh Battery Energy Storage System unit at Reliance MET City in Jhajjar, Haryana; a UPS and lithium-battery facility in Bakrol, Gujarat; and a servo-stabiliser unit in Mahape, Maharashtra.

The Jhajjar plant, built at a planned capex of ₹25 crore, was originally slated for commissioning by end-FY26 but was pushed to late September due to supply-chain and geopolitical disruptions.

The launch follows a separate ₹3.67 crore order from Rayzon Energy for 2400 kVA and 500 kVA UPS systems, about 3.5% of the company’s average quarterly revenue, and comes after a Q1 FY27 in which consolidated sales rose 38.5% year-on-year to ₹76.05 crore and net profit climbed 150.27% to ₹4.58 crore.

Prostarm has investor interactions scheduled with Valorem Advisors on September 24 and an Arihant Capital conference on September 29. The stock closed 0.44% lower at ₹127.84 in the previous session.

Arvind SmartSpaces‘ Bengaluru Launch Sells Out Fast

Arvind Sylva – The Green Reserve, the company’s premium high-rise project on Sarjapur Road, Bengaluru, has crossed ₹500 crore in bookings within 30 days of launch, absorbing close to 60% of inventory by value against a total topline potential of ₹860 crore.

The pace echoes the company’s broader Bengaluru push; the city contributed 37% of Arvind SmartSpaces’ FY25 bookings of ₹1,271 crore, and the company has earmarked roughly half of a ₹1,000 crore multi-city capex plan for the market.

Bookings are a sales metric, not recognised revenue; that depends on construction milestones and collections over the project’s life. The stock closed up 2.40% at ₹588.20 in the previous session.

Axiscades Formalises Aerospace Services Arm Ahead Of Akkodis Stake Sale

Axiscades Technologies incorporated a new subsidiary, Akkodis Axiscades Aerospace Engineering Private Limited, on September 22, taking a 99.9999% stake for a cash subscription of ₹48,990.

The entity is designed to house Axiscades’ aerospace engineering, design and technical-consulting services ahead of a planned staged divestment to global consulting partner Akkodis, part of the company’s broader “Power 930” pivot towards higher-margin aerospace and defence manufacturing, which also includes a recently approved ₹234 crore acquisition of a 90% stake in Cloud Wave Technologies.

Axiscades’ Q1 FY27 consolidated revenue from continuing operations rose 94.17% year-on-year to ₹183.35 crore, though the company posted a consolidated net loss of ₹14.83 crore for the quarter, largely on account of one-off transition and divestment costs of ₹21.81 crore.

Institutional Flows, Block Deals and Leadership Changes

RHI Magnesita Rallies Despite ₹826 Crore Promoter-Linked Block Deal

RHI Magnesita India shares gained on Tuesday even as Dalmia Bharat Refractories, one of its larger shareholders, sold 2.29 crore shares, 11.11% of the company, in a ₹825.88 crore block deal at ₹360 apiece, a discount to the previous close of ₹368.

Four institutional buyers picked up the entire block: SBI Mutual Fund took the bulk at roughly 8.07% of the company, with Bandhan Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and Clarus Capital 1 taking smaller shares.

The stock still finished the day up over 3%, suggesting the market read the transaction as a portfolio rebalancing rather than a vote of no confidence in the company.

Pine Labs Swings Higher After Mastercard’s Full Exit

Mastercard Asia/Pacific sold its entire 4.31% stake in Pine Labs, 4.97 crore shares, through a ₹933.57 crore block deal on September 22, with Citigroup Global Markets India as placement agent.

The shares were absorbed across roughly 13 domestic and international institutional buyers, including ICICI Prudential Life, Societe Generale, Citigroup Global Markets and Edelweiss Mutual Fund, at an average price of about ₹187.75.

Despite the size of the exit, Pine Labs shares reportedly rose as much as 6% on the day as brokerage MOFSL initiated coverage, citing expected EBITDA-margin expansion through FY28, a reminder that a large ownership change and a stock’s near-term direction don’t always move together.

Pine Labs’ Q1 FY27 consolidated net profit rose to ₹19.6 crore from ₹4.8 crore a year earlier, on revenue up 19.6% to ₹737 crore.

360 ONE WAM Names Aashish Agarwal As Group CEO

360 ONE WAM’s board approved the appointment of Aashish Agarwal, currently Managing Director and Country Head at Jefferies India and previously with CLSA for 13 years, as the group’s next Chief Executive Officer, effective February 15, 2027.

From the same date, co-founder Karan Bhagat will move to Vice Chairman while continuing as Managing Director until July 26, 2030; co-founder Yatin Shah continues to lead the wealth-management franchise.

The company said the restructuring is meant to let its wealth, asset-management and capital-markets businesses operate with sharper individual focus. 360 ONE WAM shares were trading around ₹1,072 as of Tuesday afternoon, roughly flat on the day and about 11.3% below their 52-week high of ₹1,208.

IRB Infrastructure Board Approves Monetising Pune, Mumbai Land

The IRB Infrastructure Developers’ board gave in-principle approval on September 22 to monetise non-core land parcels through its subsidiaries, a phased development of roughly 350 of the 1,100 acres held by Aryan Infrastructure Investments in Pune and redevelopment of about 3,500 square metres held by Ideal Road Builders in Mumbai.

The move, still subject to definitive agreements and regulatory approvals, is aimed at boosting non-operational cash flow without added debt and comes alongside the group’s continuing toll-revenue growth, which rose 25% year-on-year to ₹807 crore in August.

Also In Focus

Allied Blenders & Distillers co-promoter Bina Kishore Chhabria plans to sell up to 55 lakh shares (about 1.97% of paid-up equity) in the open market between September 23 and October 31 to bring promoter holding, currently at 80.91%, in line with SEBI’s Minimum Public Shareholding norms.

Separately, Allcargo Terminals’ Container Freight Station volumes for August came in at an estimated 65.6 thousand TEUs, per the company’s monthly business update, up on both a yearly and sequential basis, continuing a steady throughput trend the company has posted through 2026.

Bottom Line

Wednesday’s session sits at the intersection of two very different stories. At the top of the market, corporate governance and consolidation dominate, Tata Sons’ chairmanship dispute and HDFC Bank’s now-narrowed CEO race underline unresolved leadership questions at two of India Inc.’s most closely watched institutions, even as Persistent Systems’ Nagarro buyout and the Adani Group’s SEBI settlement show large-cap names moving decisively to close out overhangs.

Further down the market, small and mid-caps are telling a more binary tale: order-book momentum at Sugs Lloyd, Prostarm and Arvind SmartSpaces points to genuine execution strength in power, energy storage and realty, while Sapphire Foods’ escalating GST dispute and the RHI Magnesita and Pine Labs block deals are reminders that ownership and regulatory risk sit right alongside the good news, not apart from it.

The next markers worth watching: whether the RBI clears Anup Bagchi or opts for Kaizad Bharucha before Jagdishan’s October 26 exit, how Tata Trusts’ challenge to Chandrasekaran’s reappointment proceeds, whether Nagarro’s remaining shareholders tender by the October 6 deadline, and whether HCLTech’s UK win, undisclosed in value, is a sign of more order momentum to come for an IT sector that spent Tuesday dragging the index lower. None of these are settled today; all of them will move the stocks in this piece over the next two to six weeks.

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