New-Age Tech Stocks See A Mixed Week, Delhivery Biggest Gainer

The Indian equities market witnessed high volatility this week. While positive cues on easing tariff war uplifted investor sentiment in the early part of the week, the rising tensions between India and Pakistan resulted in the market losing some of the steam in the latter part of the week. 

Amid these, new-age tech stocks saw a mixed week.

Fifteen out of the 32 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage gained in a range of 0.15% to over 8%, while 17 stocks fell in a range of 0.21% to just under 15%. 

Delhivery emerged as the biggest gainer this week, with the logistics major’s shares gaining 8.45% from last Friday’s close to end the week at INR 304.70.

Paytm rallied 3.17% to end the week at INR 875.85. The list of gainers also featured names like BlackBuck, Nazara Technologies, Awfis, Nykaa, among others. 

Meanwhile, Ola Electric, Swiggy, Eternal and PB Fintech were among the losers this week.

The cumulative market cap of the new-age tech stocks declined to $78.37 Bn from $79.12 Bn at the end of last week. 

NSE Emerge-listed cybersecurity company TAC Infosec emerged as the biggest loser during the week when the NSE tightened the rules for NSE Emerge listed companies to move to mainboard. TAC Infosec’s shares went down 14.89% to end the week at INR 1,112.40. 

Foodtech major Swiggy ended the week 5.75% lower from last week at INR 321.35. On Thursday (April 24), it was reported that the company, as well as its quick commerce competitor Zepto, received a notice from the Delhi High Court over their apps’ unfriendly interface for visually-impaired users.

Swiggy’s competitor Eternal also saw a bearish investor sentiment, with its shares ending the week down 1.47% at INR 228.35. During the week, the Delhi HC issued a notice to Zomato and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on a plea filed by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) challenging its exclusion from the confidential ring in the competition watchdog’s ongoing investigation into the foodtech major.

In a separate case, the CCI ruled in favour of Zomato and said that the latter’s platform fees, food prices and delivery charges do not amount to unfair or discriminatory conduct. 

Meanwhile, it was another bumpy week for EV major Ola Electric, as reports said that Maharashtra transport authorities have ordered a shutdown of the company’s stores operating without the necessary certification. However, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company told the exchanges that it was not aware of any such “negotiations/events”. The EV major’s shares ended the week 0.74% lower at INR 49.87. 

First New-Age Tech IPO Of 2025 

Ola Electric’s rival Ather Energy filed its RHP with SEBI this week, making it the first startup to go for a public listing in 2025. However, the company cut its IPO size to a fresh issue of up to INR 2,626 Cr and offer for sale (OFS) of up to 1.1 Cr shares amid the volatility in the market. 

The IPO will open on Monday (August 28) and close on Wednesday (August 30). Ather has set a price band of INR 304 to INR 321 for the public issue. Its shares will get listed on the bourses on May 6.

It must be noted that Ather is heading into the public markets as a loss-making company. For the nine-months ended December 2024 (9M FY25), it reported a net loss of INR 577.9 Cr. However, this was a decline of about 26% from INR 776.4 Cr in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, its operating revenue zoomed 28% to INR 1,578.9 Cr in the first three quarters of FY25 from INR 1,230.4 Cr in the same period last year, as it witnessed a 45% year-on-year growth in its EV sales to 1.08 Lakh units.

Given the losses, brokerage Bajaj Broking suggested investors to subscribe to the issue with a long term perspective. 

“Despite its growth initiatives, the company has been consistently posting losses and carries significant accumulated losses… Considering its current financials, this appears to be a long-term investment story, and therefore, only well-informed investors with surplus funds and a long-term perspective may consider investing moderately,” the brokerage said. 

Clouds Of War Hit Sentiment 

After seeing the best week in four years, the Indian markets continued to move upwards at the beginning of this week. Sensex surged past the 80,000 mark on Wednesday (April 23). Behind the rise were decreasing tariff tensions and signs of India becoming one of the first countries to reach a bilateral trade agreement with the US.

Renewed FII inflows into the Indian market also aided the rally.

However, the gruesome terrorist attack on tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam and the resultant tensions between India and Pakistan hit investor sentiment in the latter part of the week. 

As a result, the benchmark indices declined by over 1% in the last two trading sessions of the week. Sensex and Nifty 50 ended the week only 0.8% higher at 79,212.53 and 24,039.35, respectively. 

Commenting on the situation, Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said, “Foreign investors are likely to be on a wait-and-watch approach in the near term due to the geopolitical tensions. Historically, India has exercised strong resilience during geopolitical tensions given the buoyant nature of the domestic economy. For long-term investors, it is fair to take this as an opportunity to accumulate quality stocks/ sectors during further dips.” 

Now, let’s take a look at what happened with the week’s top gainer and loser this week. 

Delhivery’s Bull Run Continues 

Shares of Delhivery have been on an upward trend since it announced its plans to acquire Ecom Express earlier this month. This week, the company’s shares rallied 8.45% to end at INR 304.70. 

On April 19, the companies moved the CCI to seek approval for the INR 1,407 Cr deal. In a notice submitted to the regulator, the companies said that the proposed transaction will not lead to any change in “competitive dynamics” or cause “any appreciable adverse effect on competition” in the logistics sector. 

Brokerages have been largely bullish on Delhivery’s acquisition plan.

Earlier this month, JM Financial reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on the logistics company as well as its price target of INR 360. 

“We expect the company’s recently announced acquisition of Ecom Express to be a significantly positive trigger as it will enable Delhivery to gain incremental scale while transitioning Ecom Express’ volumes to its lower cost network,” the brokerage said in a research note. 

TAC Infosec Takes The Biggest Hit

After seeing bullish investor sentiment for months, cybersecurity firm TAC Infosec’s shares saw intense selling pressure this week. The NSE Emerge-listed company’s shares plunged significantly after the NSE rejigged the criteria for SME companies to move to the mainboard. 

As per the new rules, a company eyeing a mainboard listing should have an operating revenue of over INR 100 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Besides, it should also be a profitable entity for at least two out of the previous three financial years, the NSE said on Thursday (April 24). 

In the case of TAC Infosec, its operating revenue stood at INR 11.84 Cr in FY24 and INR 13.15 Cr in H1 FY25. 

In an interview with Inc42 last year, TAC Infosec founder and CEO Trishneet Arora shared that the cybersecurity company’s ultimate goal was to list on Nasdaq. 

“If you look historically, the success of Emerge is higher compared to the mainboard. Having said that, TAC’s ultimate goal is to list on the Nasdaq one day,” he said.