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Hindustan Zinc, a subsidiary of Vedanta, on Monday announced the setting up of a 10 MTPA tailings teprocessing plant as part of the Company’s overall growth plan to double the capacity.The plant will be set up at a capital cost of Rs 3,823 crore and aims to recover metal from the tailing dumps. "This one-of-a-kind plant, a first in India, will enable reduction of environmental footprint associated with traditional wet tailings disposal, enhance HZL's overall mineral recovery and usher in improved sustainability," the company said in a release. Hindustan Zinc is targeting annual revenue in the range of Rs 62,000 crore to Rs 65,000 crore once its production capacity doubles to 2 million tonne, according to an investor presentation last week. The company, however, did not say by when it would double production capacity.At double capacity, the production of silver is expected to rise to 1,500 tonne from around 700 tonne now. Silver is recovered as a by-product from the smelting and refining of zinc.In June, the company had announced a capital expenditure of Rs 12,000 crore to enhance capacity at its smelter in Debari by 250,000 tonne, taking it to a total of 1.38 million tonnes. This capacity is expected to come on board in 36 months after the expansion starts.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have been net sellers of Indian equities worth Rs 1,16,617 crore in 2025 so far but it is not a reason to worry, according to Samir Arora, founder and fund manager at Helios Capital Management. He tweeted that the FII selling this year has nothing wrong with it and is a marginal rebalancing.Arora said that the FII selling accounts are just 2% of their portfolio which is worth $750 billion. In his view, the right way to look at the data is to look at the buying/selling not just in the secondary market but also what that are buying via initial public offerings (IPOs) and qualified institutional placements (QIPs)."Why look at secondary data only? FII view on India is better understood by their total investments- their buying/selling of stocks plus their buying of stocks via IPOs and QIPs. FIIs own about 750 billion USD of stocks primarily in old, large cap names in IT, consumer and financial sector- so they are selling may be 2 pct of their portfolio to buy newer companies, smaller companies which they can only buy via IPOs or QIPs due to size. There is nothing wrong with this marginal rebalancing," he said. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Why look at secondary data only?<br/>FII view on India is better understood by their total investments- their buying/selling of stocks plus their buying of stocks via IPOs and QIPs.<br/>FIIs own about 750 billion USD of stocks primarily in old, large cap names in IT, consumer and… <a href="https://t.co/oaWbsA0PqG">https://t.co/oaWbsA0PqG</a></p>&mdash; Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) <a href="https://twitter.com/Iamsamirarora/status/1956251156730274017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have sold domestic shares worth Rs 20,975 crore in the first fortnight of August 14. They sold shares worth Rs 10,173 crore last week.The FIIs have been net sellers on four occasions till July on a monthly basis. January saw the highest amount of FII selling at Rs 78,027 crore and was followed by Rs 34,574 crore sell off in February. In March and July months, they sold shares worth Rs 3,973 crore and Rs 17,741 crore, respectively. They were buyers in April, May and June at Rs 4,223 crore, Rs 19,860 crore and Rs 14,590 crore in June.Expert VK Vijayakumar, who is Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments sees FII outflows owing to India's underperforming versus their global peers over the last six weeks. This underperformance is despite a massive DII buying aided by robust inflows into mutual funds, he said."Trump’s harsh tariffs and the straining of relations between US and India have impacted the market sentiments and, consequently, shorts have piled up pulling the market down. The tepid earnings growth, elevated valuations and modest projection of 8 to 10% earnings growth for FY26 have emboldened the bears to increase short positions, impacting the market," Vijayakumar said.Sustained FII selling in IT stocks has pulled the IT index down though the banking and financials have been relatively resilient due to fair valuations and institutional buying, he opined.Going forward, the FII activity will be influenced by the action on the tariff front, he said, adding that the latest news of easing of tensions between the U.S. and Russia and no further sanctions on Russia indicate that the secondary tariff of 25% imposed on India is unlikely to come into effect after August 27. "This is a positive. Another positive factor which can influence FII behaviour is the rating agency S&P raising India’s credit rating from BBB-to BBB," he pointed out.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

India’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% in July 2025, down from 5.6% in the previous month, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday.During the month of July 2025, Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in Current Weekly Status among persons of age 15 years and above was 54.9% as compared to 54.2% during June 2025. As per the data released by the ministry, LFPR in rural areas and urban areas was 56.9% and 50.7% in July, respectively for persons of the same age group.The data showed that the LFPR in CWS for rural male of age 15 years and above was 78.1% whereas the LFPR for urban male of the same age group was 75.1% during July, 2025.Among rural female of the same age group, the participation rate to the labour force accelerated to 36.9% during July 2025 as compared to 35.2% reported during June 2025.During the month of July 2025, WPR in CWS in rural areas among persons of age 15 years and above increased to 54.4% from WPR of 53.3% observed in June 2025. WPR in urban areas has marked marginal increase to 47.0% in July 2025 from 46.8% in June 2025 for persons of the same age group.WPR for rural female of age 15 years and above was 35.5% in July 2025 as compared to 23.5% observed for urban female. The overall female WPR of the same age group at the country level was 31.6% in July 2025.The present monthly Bulletin for the month of July 2025 is the fourth in the series of Monthly Bulletins.

Matt Orton, Raymond James Investment, says despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, markets are showing cautious optimism, supported by positive earnings and India’s GST reforms. Aerospace and defence sectors remain strong performers, with long-term investment potential driven by increased global security spending. Investors can benefit from tailwinds across select sectors despite unresolved tensions.There is a lot happening on the global front. How do you read the current sentiments coming from global markets?Matt Orton: Yes, there is quite a lot going on for investors. From the economic data over the past week, the Trump-Putin summit, and the ongoing discussions, it seems we are moving closer to more clarity in the market, which markets always favor. A narrowing of potential outcomes helps investors factor in what the future might look like. I am optimistic that this clarity should be marginally positive for markets, which continue to move higher.India has also seen positive developments, such as the double Diwali and GST changes. US macroeconomic data did not send any negative signals, and the earnings season has been wrapping up on a strong note. These factors provide good tailwinds, which could strengthen further if geopolitical risks are resolved positively.On the Trump-Putin meeting, there seems to be no solid outcome yet. How do you see today’s talks with Zelenskyy affecting the US-Russia tariff scenario and India?Matt Orton: Any clarity on these discussions will be very helpful. The inclusion of European leaders and Zelenskyy at the White House indicates a willingness to reach a mutually agreeable resolution, even if not everyone is completely satisfied.Regardless of the outcome, aerospace and defence have been strong outperformers, particularly in Europe and the US, and these tailwinds are likely to continue. Even without a full peace agreement, nations will need to invest more in security, which supports long-term spending in defence and sends a signal globally about the need for robust security measures.