Gas shortage hits ceramic hub in Gujarat’s Morbi as Iran war widens| Business News
The ceramic industry in Gujarat’s Morbi district is facing a looming production crisis as an escalating Iran war chokes the supply of essential natural gas. A ceramics unit in Morbi. (ANI) “Most of the gas and petroleum products come from GCC countries,” said Manoj Arvadiya, president of Morbi Ceramic Manufacturers Association. “Currently, all vessels passing through are being stopped at an area controlled by Iran. A complete barricade has been erected there.” Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries nearly nearly half of India’s crude oil and gas supply every day, has come to a halt as the Iran war intensified and spread across the wider Middle East. Tehran’s drone attacks, in retaliation to missile operations by Israel and the United States, have forced Qatar to shut down the world’s largest LNG terminal in Ras Laffan. Separately, Saudi Aramco has closed its Ras Tanura refinery, and Iraq has cut oil production as there’s no way to evacuate the output. Iran war impact on India For the manufacturers in Morbi—the world’s second-largest ceramic hub—the stakes are existential. Arvadiya said the industry is almost entirely dependent on gas-fired kilns. “If the gas supply is not adequate, we anticipate that the entire Morbi Ceramic Industry will have to be shut down,” he said, adding that the gas shortage could lead to a total shutdown if logistics do not improve. New Delhi Projects Calm Despite the industry’s alarm, New Delhi maintains that India’s energy security remains intact. The country holds eight weeks of crude oil and petroleum inventory, including strategic reserves. Officials further downplayed the impact of the Iranian blockade, asserting that only 40% of India’s crude imports transit through the Strait of Hormuz. While the government continues to monitor the situation closely, they insist that diversified sourcing and existing stockpiles leave the country in a “comfortable position” to manage potential supply-side shocks.
PhonePe targets IPO valuation lower than at its last funding round| Business News
PhonePe Ltd., India’s largest payments app controlled by Walmart Inc., is aiming for a valuation of $9 billion-10.5 billion in an IPO in 2026, according to sources. PhonePe is India’s largest UPI app by user base. (HT) That kind of valuation pegs the size of the PhonePe IPO at $900 million to $1.05 billion, but that’s still smaller that the $12-billion valuation that the company enjoyed when it raised $100 million in 2023. Walmart is planning to offload about 12% stake in the PhonePe IPO, which will give an exit to investors Tiger Global and Microsoft Corp, according to a draft red-herring prospectus filed with India’s market regulator. In all, the three companies will sell 50.7 million shares in the PhonePe IPO. No new shares will be on offer. PhonePe, which competes with Google Pay and Paytm in India, filed for its IPO in September 2025 and aims to complete the process by April 2026, sources said. The timeline could shift depending on capital market conditions, including any impact from the ongoing, and escalating, Iran war. PhonePe’s listing would make it India’s second-largest fintech IPO, after Paytm’s $20 billion debut in 2021. Paytm currently trades at a market capitalisation of $7.1 billion. PhonePe financials PhonePe has more than 650 million registered users and processed nearly 10 billion of the 21.7 billion transactions on UPI in January, according to regulatory data. But payments in India remain a low-margin business. India launched UPI in 2016 and barred companies from charging fees for the instant payment service to spur digital payments and reduce cash use in Asia’s No.3 economy. PhonePe’s losses widened to â‚ą1,444 crore in the six months to 30 September 2025, from â‚ą1,203 crore a year ago, while revenue rose about 22% to â‚ą3,918 crore, according to its IPO papers. PhonePe IPO: Valuation Concerns Two portfolio managers, who met the company’s management in IPO roadshows, said excitement around the country’s fintech sector had cooled and that there were lingering questions around PhonePe’s ability to monetise its user base—a key reason it may not achieve a valuation closer to its last funding round. ALSO READ | The need for an urgent rollout of UPI market-share caps “Monetisation remains a question mark. Active users aren’t growing at the same pace so the game is all about upsell and that remains to be seen,” one of the portfolio managers said. Investors also see India’s fintech market as overcrowded with little differentiation among players, said a third source, a banker to the issue.
