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Dr. Vece Paes, a member of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games bronze-winning Indian men's hockey team and father of legendary tennis player Leander Paes, died here on Thursday morning. He was 80 years old. Paes, who was suffering from advanced stage of Parkinson's disease, was admitted to the Woodlands Hospital here on Tuesday morning. Paes was married to Jennifer, a former Indian basketball player who also served as the national team captain. Paes' last rites will be performed either on Monday or Tuesday, as the family will wait for the arrival of his daughters, who are both settled abroad. Paes, who donned multiple hats in his long association with Indian sports, was a midfielder in the Indian hockey team. He also played several sports such as football, cricket and rugby and served as the president of the Indian Rugby Football Union from 1996 to 2002.A sports medicine doctor, he worked as a medical consultant with several sports bodies including the Asian Cricket Council, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Indian Davis Cup team. His son, Leander, took Indian sports to great heights, becoming the most successful tennis player in the country's history by winning 18 Grand Slam titles, including eight men's doubles and 10 mixed doubles crowns. Leander also won the men's singles bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, thus keeping the family tradition alive of winning a medal at the quadrennial showpiece.

One 97 Communications, which operates fintech platform Paytm, has surged 17% so far this year, on top of a 128% jump over the past 12 months, leaving investors wondering whether the rally still has legs or if it’s time to wait for a pullback. The stock has climbed 21% in the past month alone, including a 9.5% jump this week, underscoring bullish sentiment that has pushed it above all eight of its key moving averages and kept its technical indicators in overdrive.The latest boost came Wednesday, when shares rallied nearly 5% to a new 52-week high of Rs 1,173.70 after the Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle approval to its wholly owned subsidiary, Paytm Payments Services Ltd, to operate as an online payment aggregator. The move also lifts the merchant onboarding ban imposed in November 2022, removing a major regulatory overhang.The RBI approval is contingent on compliance with its Payment Aggregator and Payment Gateway guidelines, and requires a comprehensive system and cybersecurity audit by certified professionals. Certain transactions such as merchant “pay-outs” must not be routed through escrow accounts meant for PA operations.Regulatory relief follows profit turnaroundIn July, Paytm posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 122.5 crore for the first quarter of FY26, reversing a Rs 839 crore loss a year earlier. Revenue from operations climbed 28% year-on-year to Rs 1,917 crore during the quarter, while contribution profit rose 52% to Rs 1,151 crore, lifting the margin to 60%. The company ended the quarter with Rs 12,872 crore in cash.Net payment revenue grew 38% to Rs 529 crore during June 2025 quarter, and revenue from distribution of financial services doubled to Rs 561 crore. Merchant device subscriptions stood at 1.30 crore across MSMEs and enterprise payment merchants.Analysts weigh inLaxmikant Shukla, Senior Manager, Technical Analyst at YES Securities, said the stock has “shown impressive bullish strength, breaking past its previous monthly high of Rs 1130 levels.”“Despite some profit booking yesterday, it remains above the breakout zone… any dips towards this support zone could be a buying opportunity. The stock is targeting new highs with a potential near term target of Rs 1235,” said Shukla.Nilesh Jain, Head of Technical and Derivatives Research at Centrum Broking, noted Paytm’s “multi-year breakout above the Rs 1,050 mark” and said the structure “remains bullish with potential to move beyond Rs 1,250,” but cautioned that “the recent sharp rally has made the risk–reward ratio less attractive at current levels.”Mandar Bhojane, Senior Research Analyst at Choice Broking, pointed to a breakout from a Cup and Handle pattern and said: “A sustained move above Rs 1160 could pave the way for upside targets of Rs 1300 and Rs 1400, while immediate support at Rs 1120 and Rs 1080 offers attractive buy-on-dips opportunities.”Bhojane flagged Rs 1200 and Rs 1250 as resistance levels where profit booking could emerge.Drumil Vithlani, Technical Research Analyst at Bonanza, cited a flag and pole breakout with a near-term target of Rs 1,220–Rs 1,250 and possible extension to Rs 1,300.Vithlani said the RBI approval and Q1 profit “remove a major overhang… improving merchant acquisition prospects and boosting payment volumes,” but warned that risks include “profit booking due to overbought RSI levels, potential adverse regulatory developments, and execution challenges.”Technical setupPaytm’s RSI stands at 68.9, just shy of overbought territory, while MACD is at 35.8, above the center line but below the signal line. The stock trades above its 5-day, 10-day, 20-day, 30-day, 50-day, 100-day, 150-day and 200-day simple moving averages, signalling bullish undertones in both the short and long term.Also read | Paytm shares surge 5% to 52-week high as RBI grants payment aggregator licence to subsidiary(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

Jubilant Foodworks shares rallied 4.8% on the BSE on Thursday to their day’s high of Rs 670.65, after the company reported a strong 59.8% year-on-year growth in profit after tax (PAT) for the first quarter of FY26. PAT rose to Rs 97.2 crore from the year-ago period, with the PAT margin improving by 115 basis points to 4.3%.Revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 2,260.90 crore, marking a 17% increase over the corresponding quarter last year. Reported EBITDA came in at Rs 438 crore, up 14.3% year-on-year.The company’s EBITDA margin stood at 19.4%, down 44 basis points, while the pre-IND AS 116 EBITDA margin improved by 14 basis points to 12.9%.During the quarter, Jubilant Foodworks expanded its store network to 3,387 outlets, adding 330 new stores compared to the previous year.After the company’s Q1 results, here is what brokerage firms are saying:Nuvama: Buy| Target price: Rs 811Nuvama has revised its target price for Jubilant Foodworks to Rs 811 from Rs 838 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating.The brokerage noted that the company’s India business delivered a strong Q1FY26 performance with 11.6% like-for-like (LFL) growth. However, it cautioned that high LFLs are straining service levels, which could lead to the opening of more split stores. Nuvama has cut its FY26E and FY27E revenue estimates by 2.7% to 5.9% and lowered EBITDA projections by 8.6% to 10.4%. The downgrade is attributed to slower growth in DP Eurasia and a softer margin pickup than previously guided.Avendua: Add| Target price: Rs 700Avendus has cut its target price for Jubilant Foodworks to Rs 700 from Rs 735 while maintaining an ‘Add’ rating.The brokerage highlighted that a high base poses a risk to sustaining high double-digit revenue growth. It noted that operating leverage is yet to play out, with margin expansion expected to be back-ended. For FY26–27, Avendus has kept its revenue growth forecast at low-teens, while expecting a margin expansion of around 200 basis points later in the forecast period. However, it has trimmed its FY26–27 margin estimates by 50–60 basis points.Motilal Oswal: Neutral| Target price: Rs 725Motilal Oswal has revised its target price for Jubilant Foodworks to Rs 725 from Rs 750 while maintaining a ‘Neutral’ rating.The brokerage noted steady performance with no major changes to its FY26 and FY27 EBITDA estimates. It expects the delivery segment to outperform in the near term and sees value offerings along with product innovation driving order growth in FY26. MOSL has modeled the standalone pre-IND AS EBITDA margin at 12–14% for FY26–28E. It added that rich valuations are keeping the rating at Neutral.Also read: Zerodha's Nithin Kamath on how a boring, invisible Sebi step brought windfall gains for retail investors(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)