The week in charts: Mixed IT earnings, rising inflation, climate crisis
In this weekly Plain Facts compilation, we present to you data-based insights, with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by.
From India’s IT majors reporting mixed quarterly results to retail inflation climbing back after narrowing food deflation, the US tariff threats casting uncertainty over India’s Chabahar Port investments, and 2025 ranking among the three warmest years on record—here's a compilation of this week's news in numbers.
Mixed performance
India’s top IT services companies delivered mixed performance in the third quarter of FY26, with revenue growth outpacing net profits as the sector grappled with the impact of new labour codes.
Among the top four IT firms that have released their latest financial results, HCL Technologies led the pack with revenue climbing 13.3% year-on-year. Infosys followed with revenue rising 8.9%, while Wipro and TCS reported a more modest growth of 5.5% and 4.9%, respectively.
However, net profits took a significant hit across the board due to the impact of new labour codes introduced by the government. TCS saw net profit decline 13.9%, while HCLTech recorded an 11.1% drop. Wipro and Infosys reported a modest decline of 6.6 and 2.2%, respectively.
Food effect
India’s retail inflation rose to 1.3% in December from 0.7% a month earlier. The increase was mainly due to food prices falling at a slower pace, despite food inflation remaining negative. Core inflation also edged up.
On the other hand, wholesale price inflation (WPI) turned positive at 0.8% in December after two months of negative inflation. The rise in both retail and wholesale inflation signals the end of the ultra-low inflation phase.
Retail inflation has stayed below the lower end of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 2–6% target range in five of the last six months. However, the RBI’s next policy decision may depend on upcoming developments, including the Union Budget on 1 February and revisions to inflation and GDP data later in February.
Falling short
The Centre has collected ₹18.4 trillion in net direct taxes until 11 January this financial year, according to the data released by the Income Tax Department on 12 January. This was up 8.8%, lower than the 11% growth assumed in the Budget. Corporate tax revenue grew 12.4% to ₹8.63 trillion.
However, non-corporate tax revenue, which mainly consists of personal income tax along with taxes paid by individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), and local authorities, expanded at a slower pace of 6.4%. Securities transaction tax mop-up barely grew at 0.7%.
While tax collections are likely to fall short of the Budget targets, analysts believe non-tax revenue and some cuts in expenditure would help the government still meet their fiscal deficit target of 4.4%.
Numbers Talk
$4 trillion: This week, Alphabet became the fourth company to reach a $4-trillion market capitalisation, joining Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple. Nvidia and Microsoft hit the mark in July, while Apple followed in October.
₹2.72 trillion: The Centre will likely keep the road ministry’s budget allocation around this level in the upcoming Budget as it looks to draw in more private investment despite slowing highway construction, Mint reported.
100,000: That’s the number of visas revoked so far, according to a statement by the US State Department. This includes about 8,000 student visas, marking a record under President Donald Trump’s tough immigration push.
50%: The Centre is considering mandating at least 50% domestic content in battery storage systems used by wind and solar projects, Mint reported. This move is aimed at cutting import dependence, but it could raise the final cost of power.
80: The Indian passport has climbed five positions in the latest Henley Passport Index for 2026, reflecting India’s improving position that now allows citizens to travel to 55 destinations either visa-free or with visa-on-arrival.
Sanctions squeeze
US President Donald Trump has announced fresh tariff threats, proposing a 25% duty on countries doing business with Iran. For India, the direct trade impact is limited due to negligible imports from Iran.
The larger concern lies in India’s strategic investment in Chabahar Port, a key project meant to bypass Pakistan and secure access to Afghanistan and West Asia. Chabahar has repeatedly been caught in US-Iran tensions.
In September 2025, the US reimposed sanctions on entities linked to the port but later granted a six-month exemption, due to expire in April 2026.
India operationalised the Shahid Beheshti Terminal in 2017, but cargo movement remains low at 2.2 million tonnes as opposed to capacity of around 8 million tonnes. The uncertainty around US policy may put India’s investments at the port in jeopardy.
Warming continues
The year 2025 was among the three warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said earlier this week. Six of the eight global climate datasets analysed by the organisation ranked 2025 as the third warmest year in the 176-year record, while two placed it second.
According to the data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the global surface temperature touched an average of 1.47℃ above the pre-industrial levels of 1850-1900.
This was marginally cooler than 2023 and 0.13℃ cooler than 2024, which remains the warmest year on record. Data also shows the past 11 years have been the warmest on record, consistently exceeding 1.0℃. Worryingly, the past three years have either exceeded or touched the 1.5℃ threshold – the critical limit established under the 2015 PAris Agreement to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
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