PRE-MARKET INDIAN STOCKS NEWS: India raised its windfall tax on petrol exports to INR 1.5 from zero, effective September 1st

Hero MotoCorp (HMCL IN) - Co. August domestic dispatches rose 4.5% Y/Y to 542.3k units, supported by stronger scooter sales despite lower motorcycle volumes. (Economic Times)

NMDC (NMDC IN) - Co. August production rose to 4.07mln tonnes (prev. 3.37mln tonnes Y/Y), while sales rose to 3.58mln tonnes (prev. 3.39mln tonnes Y/Y). (Economic Times)

Tata Motors (TMPV IN) - Co. secured all prior regulatory approvals required for its proposed acquisition of Iveco Group, marking another step towards completing the transaction. (Economic Times)

Welspun Corp (WELCORP IN) - Co. and Perma-Pipe International Holdings signed an MOU with developers of Jordan’s National Water Carrier Project and the Jordanian government to develop pipe manufacturing and advanced coating facilities in the country. (Economic Times)

Wipro (WPRO IN) - Co. renewed its Digital Workplace Services contract with ABB, extending its long-standing engagement with the electrification and automation company. (Economic Times)

India raised its windfall tax on petrol exports to INR 1.5 from zero, effective September 1st.

India's windfall tax on fuel exports is a standing policy instrument rather than a novel one: it is reviewed and adjusted on a regular cycle, and past episodes have seen rates raised, cut, or zeroed in step with refining margins and crude prices. The mechanism is straightforward: a higher export levy compresses realised margins for private refiners that sell petrol abroad, nudging product toward the domestic market and at the margin tightening export supply into regional product cracks. The move from zero to a modest levy reads as incremental rather than punitive, consistent with authorities trimming the tax when margins narrow and restoring it when export economics look attractive. The stocks most exposed in comparable adjustments have been the large private refiners with meaningful export shares, with domestic-focused retailers largely unaffected. Worth noting is the usual sequence: rate revisions of this kind tend to recur on a rolling basis, so the next scheduled review and the prevailing diesel and gasoline crack environment are the relevant follow-ons. The broader pre-market wrap is routine corporate flow, with the NMDC production numbers and Tata Motors' regulatory progress the other items with established read-throughs to their respective sectors.