Mumbai: India’s equity benchmarks slumped more than 3% Thursday – the steepest single-day drop in nearly two years – as attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in West Asia rattled investors and fuelled inflation concerns. The 5%-plus drop in HDFC Bank, the biggest Nifty stock by weighting, after the abrupt exit of its non-executive chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, citing ‘ethical’ concerns further pressured bourses.

The NSE Nifty closed at 23,002.15 – the lowest since February 2025, down 775.65 points or 3.3%. The BSE Sensex ended 3.3% lower at 74,207.24 – the lowest since March 2025, shedding 2,496.89 points. Thursday’s slide wiped out gains from the previous three sessions and punched a ₹13 lakh crore-hole in the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies.

“The recent attacks on gas reserves are a serious concern that may have spooked investors and pushed oil prices higher,” said Hitesh Zaveri, head – Listed Equities Alternatives at Axis Mutual Fund. “Till this war is resolved, further declines cannot be ruled out.”

Iran’s strikes caused extensive damage to the world’s largest gas plant in Qatar, targeted a refinery in Saudi Arabia, forced a shutdown of UAE gas facilities, and triggered fires at two Kuwaiti refineries, Reuters reported. The retaliation followed Israel’s attack on Iran’s gas infrastructure.

Market participants do not rule out further downside amid the escalating West Asia tensions.

“There is scope for further downside since oil facilities were hammered, raising concerns that production and transport capabilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran may be significantly impaired,” said UR Bhat, co-founder & director, Alphaniti. “This has added pressure on the markets while the closure of the Strait of Hormuz remains unaddressed. Consensus expectations for crude moving towards $150 a barrel may not be far-fetched if escalations persist.”

Fear Gauge Rises 21.8%
Across Asia, Japan dropped 3.4%, South Korea fell 2.7%, Hong Kong slid 2%, while Taiwan and China declined 1.9% and 1.4%, respectively.
At home, all NSE sectoral indices ended lower. The Nifty Auto index tumbled 4.3%, while Nifty Realty fell 3.8%. Consumer durables, IT and metal gauges lost more than 3% each. The Bank Nifty fell 3.4%, dragged by HDFC Bank.

Analysts said the sell-off has prompted traders to initiate fresh bearish bets on the Nifty.

“Around 12-18 Nifty heavyweights saw not just unwinding of long positions but formation of short positions as well,” said Ruchit Jain, head of technical research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Jain pegged 22,500 as the near-term support level but said a durable bottom depends on an easing of geopolitical stress.

Foreign portfolio investors sold a net ₹7,558.2 crore worth of shares on Thursday, while domestic institutions bought ₹3,864 crore. In March, global investors sold ₹79,805.7 crore of equities.

The India VIX jumped 21.8% to 22.8 – the sharpest rise since March 4 – signalling heightened near-term volatility. “With the VIX at extremely high levels, the swings are sharp and could continue,” Jain said.

The Nifty Midcap 150 fell 3.1%, and the Smallcap 250 dropped 2.6%. Of the 4,404 shares traded on the BSE, 3,359 declined and 913 advanced. Both indices were down about 3.3% over the past week till Thursday.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the federal government will reduce or eliminate the capital gains tax discount in the forthcoming budget, but it is not clear how it intends to do it.

Until 1985, there was no broad-based capital gains tax In Australia and there was a tax avoidance industry of making income look like capital gains, thereby avoiding income tax. 

The introduction of a capital gains tax by the Hawke-Keating government put an end to that. 

If capital gains are taxed at the same rate as income, there is no point in trying to classify profit as one or the other.

In 1999, the Howard-Costello government introduced a 50 per cent discount to capital gains tax on assets that were held for more than 12 months. 

One of the stated objectives of the discount was to encourage investment in the housing market with the aim of making more houses available for renters.

It is not clear whether it ever achieved that purpose. What it did achieve was an increase in the proportion of houses owned by investors and a reduction in the proportion of houses owned by homeowners.

The concept of a capital gains tax discount for long term investments is a good one because it encourages investment over trading. Some countries have a discount which increases each year an investment is held, which is an even better system because it encourages long term investment.

The principal objective of these concessions in other countries is to increase long term investment in companies and thereby strengthen their economies. There is less need for this in Australia because we already have a tax-effective mechanism for investing in companies called superannuation.

In Australia, allowing a capital gains tax discount on residential investment properties has contributed to housing unaffordability. It is not the only factor, but it is a significant factor. If investors and would-be homeowners are competing to purchase properties, it follows that prices will be higher than if investors were not in the market.

Consequently, the capital gains tax discount on investment properties has been criticised by economists and housing advocates, and the government is now considering making changes to it.

If the government wants to raise as much revenue as possible, it will make the measure retrospective so that it applies to both past and future capital gains. It can then use the additional revenue to fund income tax cuts, which will advance its social agenda. 

That might be the course it takes. It will be hard on investors, but broadly fair across the tax base.

If the government’s primary objective is to take the strain off the housing market, it should eliminate the discount only for residential properties and leave it in place for other investments, such as shares, businesses and commercial properties. Within this option, it could retain the discount for investment in new apartments because that is a section of the market which is struggling with the costs of land acquisition and construction.

This option would, however, raise less revenue than a complete withdrawal of the discount, but the amount raised would still be substantial.

Then there is the issue of fairness. 

A fair system would remove the discount for new property purchases and leave it in place for existing investment properties. No-one would be disadvantaged and it would still achieve the purpose of taking investors out of the market. 

This option would, however, raise very little money. The government would only get the extra revenue from houses bought under the new system, there will be fewer people buying investment properties after the discount is removed and the tax won’t be payable until those houses are sold years into the future.

A similar measure, which would raise more revenue, would be the removal of the discount for capital gains which occur after the Budget, regardless of when the property was purchased. 

It would not be retrospective and the government would get the extra revenue from all investment property sales going forward.

Each of these options would have a positive effect on housing affordability, but there is a trade-off between fairness and revenue raising. 

As the change will be introduced as part of the Budget, it is likely that the Treasurer will opt for a version that raises a substantial amount of revenue. The opportunity to redistribute the increased capital gains tax revenue as income tax cuts will be very tempting.

The Greens and a number of independents appear to be on board with removing or reducing the discount. 

The Liberal Party has signalled that it will oppose any reduction in the discount on the basis that it would result in higher taxes. This approach is misconceived in a number of ways. 

First, the tax is not being increased, rather a concession is being eliminated. The purpose of tax concessions is to encourage behaviour or to lessen the load on the basis of fairness. 

Neither applies to investors in residential housing. The behaviour that is being incentivised is detrimental to home ownership and the investors are not in need of a handout, so they should be taxed at the full tax rate.

Second, the party of Robert Menzies, the champion of homeownership, should take ownership of the problem it created when it introduced the capital gains tax discount and support its removal.

Third, if the tax revenue from the removal of the discount is redistributed through income tax cuts, the Liberals will look very silly if they oppose the package on the basis of being the “low tax party”. 

They opposed the government’s income tax cut at the last election and look how that worked out.

Finally, there is the issue of intergenerational equity. 

The only segment of society that voted Liberal at the last election was the over 65s. The younger a person is, the less likely they are to vote Liberal. 

If the Liberals want to win more votes from the younger generations who are struggling to become homeowners, they need to support every measure that improves housing affordability.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Maria, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Titan Group conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the full year 2025 results.

Please note, this call and presentation is intended for analysts and investors only. [Operator Instructions] And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Marcel Cobuz, Chair of the Group Executive Committee; and Mr. John Ioannou, Group CFO.

Mr. Cobuz, you may now proceed.

Marcel Cobuz
Executive Director

Good afternoon. Hello, everyone, and welcome. I’m Marcel Cobuz, I’m joined here by John Ioannou, our Group Chief Financial Officer; and by Spyros Kamizoulis, our Investor Relations Head.

John will take you through the financials after my opening remarks, and then the 3 of us look forward to your questions.

Let me start with Titan Forward 2029, the strategic framework for everything we are reporting today. November last year, at our Investor Day in Athens, we discussed, we unveiled Titan Forward 2029, fully endorsed by our Board and our long-term core shareholding family.

Building on our Growth 2026 strategy delivered 1 year ahead of schedule, Titan Forward 2029 has 3 clear priorities: one, above market growth in core cement and aggregates, particularly in the U.S.; second, scaling an integrated global alternative cementitious materials platform; and third, innovating on low-carbon and digital technologies, scaling precast in both Europe and U.S. and advancing

Countries in Asia are implementing various strategies to address potential oil shortages due to global disruptions. Measures include diversifying energy sources, increasing reserves, and enhancing energy efficiency. These actions aim to stabilize economies and ensure energy security in light of uncertain global oil supplies.

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Amid a global oil shortage, Asian countries are implementing strategic measures to mitigate economic impacts. Governments are exploring alternative energy sources, boosting renewable energy investments like solar and wind, and encouraging energy conservation among citizens. These efforts aim to reduce dependence on imported oil and stabilize domestic markets amidst fluctuating global prices.

In response to the crisis, countries like India and China are negotiating new trade deals to ensure more reliable oil supplies. Additionally, they are enhancing storage capacities to build strategic reserves. These proactive steps are intended to secure energy security and shield economies from further volatility, ensuring that industries and consumers face minimal disruptions.

On a regional level, collaboration is increasing as Asian nations form alliances to share resources, technologies, and strategies. Through joint initiatives, they aim to create a more resilient energy network. This cooperative approach not only strengthens energy security but also fosters sustainable development, preparing the region for future challenges in the global energy landscape.

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Other People are Reading

Coal India arm Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd (CMPDI) will open its IPO for subscription on March 20, with GMP (grey market premium) indicating a modest listing premium of around 2%, pointing to a steady but not euphoric debut. The IPO, priced in the band of Rs 163-172 per share, is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 1,842 crore, meaning the company will not receive any proceeds from the issue.

The issue will close on March 24, with listing scheduled for March 30 on the BSE and NSE.

About the company

CMPDI is a leading mining consultancy firm offering end-to-end services across coal and mineral exploration, mine planning, environmental management and geomatics. The company holds a dominant ~61% market share in India’s coal and mineral consultancy segment and is a key partner to Coal India.Financially, the company has shown strong growth, with revenue rising to Rs 2,178 crore in FY25 and net profit at Rs 667 crore, supported by high EBITDA margins of over 42%.

At the upper price band, the IPO is valued at around 18-21x earnings, which analysts see as reasonable given its profitability profile and asset-light model.
However, the business remains heavily dependent on Coal India and the broader coal ecosystem, which introduces concentration and sectoral risks.

GMP signals

The GMP for the IPO is hovering around 2%, suggesting a limited listing upside. Analysts said the muted premium reflects a balanced risk-reward profile, where strong financials are offset by structural dependence on a single client and the long-term shift toward renewable energy.

Should you subscribe?

Brokerage views remain mixed, with a tilt towards selective participation. Arihant Capital has assigned a “Neutral” rating, noting that while CMPDI benefits from a capital-light model and strong margins, its growth outlook is constrained by high dependence on Coal India and long-term energy transition risks.

Swastika Investmart, on the other hand, has recommended “Subscribe” from a short-to medium-term perspective, citing discounted valuation, consistent earnings growth and a debt-free balance sheet, though it flagged concerns around the 100% OFS structure and client concentration.

Overall, the IPO presents a mix of stable cash flows and sector-linked risks. While the modest GMP suggests a controlled listing, institutional interest and earnings visibility could support the stock in the near term.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

Construction schedules break more often than planners admit. In 2023, the Construction Owners Association of America found that 76 percent of projects finished after their baseline programme.

Each delay triggers the same scramble: duplicate the schedule, juggle dates, and pray the new timeline sticks.

AI-driven scheduling platforms upend that routine. They detect slippage early, run dozens of what-if simulations, and surface the fastest path back on track.

This guide ranks seven tools that turn chaos into clear options—so you can recover time, money, and stakeholder trust before the job veers off schedule.

How we picked the seven tools

We reviewed dozens of AI-branded apps, vendor one-pagers, and Reddit case threads, then kept seven platforms that deliver measurable results on live construction projects.

First, every tool had to apply AI to core scheduling tasks—building, analysing, or replanning a CPM programme—not just summarising chat transcripts. If the intelligence existed only on a slide deck, the product was excluded.

Next, we asked a tougher question: can the software speed up recovery? We looked for features that test alternate sequences, forecast risk with probability, or suggest resource shifts in minutes rather than days.

We also prioritised proven technology. Case studies, active UK deployments, and sizeable user bases scored higher than stealth-mode promises. Integration sealed the deal; each pick needed to import or export Primavera, MS Project, or open-API feeds without friction.

The outcome is a focused shortlist, ranked by how much and how quickly each platform helps you pull a slipping project back on track.

1. InEight Schedule: an AI co-planner that learns from every job

Meet InEight Schedule, a CPM engine that starts offering helpful nudges before you finish mapping the first logic string.

While you sketch early activities, its expert-system AI scans a library of past projects and suggests tasks, sequence changes, and realistic durations. It even flags missing risk allowances. Picture a veteran planner at your shoulder, whispering “add weather float to the steel erection” before you hit Save.

The machine-learning layer refines those tips with every project. If your team repeatedly edits a suggested duration, Schedule updates its benchmark for next time. Your historical data becomes a custom reference library, eliminating the habit of reusing shaky templates.

When a submittal stalls or a concrete strike wipes two weeks off the calendar, open a snapshot, adjust the assumptions, and let the AI re-sequence the critical path. Side-by-side views reveal whether adding a weekend crew or resequencing cladding returns more days. Because Schedule sits inside the broader InEight suite, every change flows immediately into cost forecasts and field dashboards. No export gymnastics needed.

Planners comfortable in Primavera will feel at home. Schedule respects full CPM discipline, supports multi-user editing, and round-trips XER files for partners. The payoff is speed: building a defensible baseline falls from weeks to days, and mid-project recovery planning fits into an afternoon instead of an all-nighter.

If you want a modern CPM workhorse that thinks ahead and grows smarter each month, put InEight Schedule at the top of your shortlist.

2. Oracle Primavera Cloud: the heavyweight standard sharpening its AI edge

Primavera has long been the go-to platform for complex CPM scheduling. Oracle’s cloud version keeps that strength and now layers predictive intelligence from the Construction Intelligence Cloud advisor released in 2024.

Upload your schedule and the AI scans every activity for shaky logic, unrealistic durations, or missing weather buffers. It then adds a risk heat-map to your dashboard, flagging “likely late” milestones weeks before standard CPM math reveals trouble.

When you need a recovery plan, Primavera’s what-if workspace lets you clone the baseline, adjust calendars or crew counts, and run Monte Carlo simulations in a single session. The new AI overlay speeds the drill by suggesting which tasks return the biggest time gain per extra shift, saving hours of manual scenario building.

Because Primavera sits at the centre of many project tech stacks, those AI alerts appear wherever your data already lives, whether that is cost in Unifier, field progress in Procore, or third-party analytics through open APIs. Teams keep familiar workflows while gaining leading-indicator warnings instead of after-the-fact slippage.

The learning curve is still steep and licences sit at the premium end. Yet for mega-projects that mandate P6 lineage, Primavera Cloud paired with Oracle’s growing AI remains the safest path to predictive power without swapping systems mid-programme.

3. Procore: real-time field data warns you before the schedule slips

Procore is best known as the place where site photos, RFIs, and cost reports live together. In 2024 the company added a Construction Intelligence layer that turns that data into early schedule alerts.

Each night, the system processes productivity logs, weather feeds, and subcontractor responses. By morning, your dashboard might flag that concrete pours are trending ten percent slower than plan and will push Milestone A beyond the critical path if nothing changes.

That notice arrives while you still have room to act. Open the Schedule tool, test a six-day workweek for the pour crew, watch the forecasted finish pull back into tolerance, and publish the update to every stakeholder’s phone before the daily huddle.

Because Procore reads P6 and MS Project files instead of replacing them, planners keep their preferred CPM engine. Field teams, meanwhile, see a living schedule that updates with their actual progress, not yesterday’s PDF.

The benefit is cultural as well as technical: fewer “We didn’t know we were behind” conversations and faster agreement on the fix. For contractors already using Procore for documents and cost, switching on the AI insights adds forward-looking visibility without rolling out a new platform.

4. ALICE Technologies: thousands of schedule options in the time it takes to brew coffee

Most tools adjust the plan you already have. ALICE reverses the process; its generative engine creates the plan first, then ranks the smartest version for you.

Feed ALICE your quantities, crew constraints, and a few “must-follow” rules. The platform expands that input into tens of thousands of viable sequences, scores each one for duration and cost, and surfaces the top contenders. On a 2023 hyperscale data-centre build, the winning scenario trimmed 63 days and saved about £8 million in prelims and overheads.

ALICE stands out in rescue mode. If a job is slipping, lock the completed work, tweak the remaining constraints, such as adding a second crane or extending concrete pours to evenings, and hit “generate.” Minutes later you can compare visual 4D simulations of each recovery path, complete with crew histograms and cost deltas. What once took planners a week of P6 cloning now fits between coordination calls.

The chosen sequence exports back to Primavera or MS Project, so field teams track progress in familiar software. You can regenerate mid-construction when conditions change; the engine learns which options your team accepts and tailors the next batch to your risk appetite.

For contractors chasing design-build megaprojects, ALICE presents owners with a faster, data-backed timeline that rivals struggle to match. Delivery teams gain a rapid brainstorming partner that turns “What if?” into “Here’s how.”

5. nPlan: the schedule risk forecaster that spots trouble months ahead

Most delays creep in quietly; durations drift, hand-offs slip, and optimism masks the evidence until it is too late. nPlan exposes that blind spot early.

Upload your latest Primavera or MS Project file and nPlan’s machine-learning model, trained on more than 600 000 real project schedules as of 2025, predicts the most probable completion date, the tasks most likely to jeopardise it, and the confidence band around every milestone. The output reads like a weather report for your programme: “60 percent chance of finishing after December 12 if the façade package stays on current productivity.”

The insight is immediate. Instead of debating gut feel in the progress meeting, you focus on the few activities the AI flags as high variance. Shift resources there, run a quick what-if in nPlan’s sandbox, and watch the probability curve bend back toward on-time.

Owners value the independent assurance, and contractors use it as a second opinion before locking a baseline. Either way, the tool replaces hope with statistics. It provides hard numbers to justify overtime, resequencing, or extra float before the risk turns into reality.

6. Nodes & Links: ask your schedule a question and get an instant, data-backed answer

Schedules hide insight in thousands of lines. Nodes & Links surfaces that knowledge through an AI assistant you can chat with, first released to customers in 2023.

Import a P6 or MSP file and the platform runs a deep health check that lists missing logic ties, negative float pockets, and out-of-sequence actuals. Then the interactive work begins. Type, “What happens if the roof steel slips two weeks?” and the AI displays the ripple effect on handover, float consumed, and resources overstretched in under five seconds. No copy-paste scenarios, no wait for recalculation.

During weekly progress reviews, the same chat bot translates planner language for the wider team: “The critical path now runs through façade package 3B; we have four days of float left.” Decisions that once required a scheduler hunched over Gantt charts now arrive in plain English for project directors and site managers.

Nodes & Links continues learning from every schedule it analyses. If design approvals on hospitals often drag, the AI raises the flag earlier on the next healthcare job. That means collective project memory delivered in real time.

For teams that already rely on a heavyweight CPM tool but need faster insight and clearer communication, this overlay converts the schedule from static contract artifact into a live decision engine.

7. Mastt: portfolio-level radar that keeps owners one step ahead

When you manage a dozen capital projects, individual Gantt charts blur together. Mastt solves that by rolling schedule, cost, and risk data into one AI-driven dashboard designed for owners and client-side PMs.

The platform ingests high-level milestones from each contractor, often straight from Primavera exports, then tracks live progress feeds from field apps and finance systems. Its risk radar compares that flow with benchmarks from similar projects and alerts you when a single delay threatens programme-wide deadlines.

Picture a transport agency with ten station upgrades. Mastt spots that design approvals on two stations are drifting, shows the likely knock-on to funding drawdowns, and recommends fast-track options before the monthly governance pack is due. Portfolio leaders receive a red-amber-green view of schedule health without scanning thousand-line programmes.

On a single project, Mastt still adds value. Move a milestone bar forward and the AI recalculates cash-flow curves and resource peaks in seconds, so you can test an acceleration scenario during the steering-group meeting instead of afterwards.

Because Mastt runs in the cloud on a SaaS model, teams spin it up without the multi-month rollout common to heavyweight systems. That speed, combined with owner-friendly dashboards, makes it a practical choice when your main pain is visibility across many moving parts rather than deep CPM edits.

Conclusion: How to choose the right tool

Start with the challenge that hurts most. Is it building a believable baseline, spotting hidden risk, or coordinating many jobs at once? Once you name the pain, the shortlist above nearly selects itself.

If your team needs a full CPM workhorse with AI built in, InEight and Primavera Cloud rise to the top. They bring a deep rules engine, resource levelling, and the audit trail that lenders and auditors require.

Already committed to Primavera but blind to emerging risk? Add nPlan or Nodes & Links. They keep your schedules intact while highlighting weak links and logic gaps before they derail the programme.

Chasing rapid acceleration on a one-off mega-project? ALICE’s generative optioneering often offsets its licence cost the first time it uncovers a sequence no human planner would attempt, and it proves the gain with data.

Need portfolio clarity more than task-level depth? Mastt gives owners a simple red-amber-green overview across dozens of projects, converting scattered contractor updates into a single schedule source of truth.

Finally, if field teams struggle to grasp why dates move, Procore’s AI closes the gap between site reality and the master plan by pulling live productivity data into schedule forecasts everyone can understand.