The month of October remained an exciting one with companies across sectors riding high on the festive season, the frenzy around IPO announcements, and quarter results announcements for Q2FY25. Firms betted on the festive season for increased sales and revenue growth as retailers, e-commerce platforms, and consumer goods manufacturers experience a surge in demand as consumers engage in gifting and shopping for celebrations like Diwali and Christmas. This period also contributes significantly to quarterly sales.

Besides festive boom, the frenzy in the IPO market is also getting stronger with the activity in the IPO market remaining buoyant, driven by stronger retail participation as reflected by number of applications and oversubscription. 

Further, the fiscal second quarter earnings season too took off during the month and many majors like Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, HUL, ITC, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Paytm, Zomato, among many others having already announced their Q2 numbers.

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Let us look at the top 5 companies trending in Google in the month of October. 

Yes Bank: Yes Bank released its fiscal second quarter earnings this October with profit at Rs 566.59 crore, posting a jump of 147.8 per cent in comparison to Rs 228.64 crore during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal year, beating estimates. On a standalone basis, Q2 profit was at Rs 553.04, up 145.6 per cent from Rs 225.21 crore during Q2FY24. The company NII stood at Rs 2,200 crore for Q2FY25, up 14.3 per cent YoY and NIMs remained stable sequentially at 2.4 per cent. The bank’s asset quality showed improvement during the period. The private sector bank also announced the appointment of Nirav Dalal as the Country Head of Financial Markets.

ICICI Bank: The banking sector, it seems, remained in focus, especially during the end of October. ICICI Bank released its fiscal second quarter earnings report on October 26, reporting a profit growth of 14.5 per cent to Rs 11,746 crore, supported by strong loan growth and improvement in asset quality. Net interest income rose 9.5 per cent to Rs 20,048 crore in the September quarter. In a report, Axis Securities had stated, “We expect the bank to continue delivering a strong performance over the medium term enabling a consistent RoA/RoE delivery of 2.2-2.3%/17-18% supported by (1) strong business growth while maintaining a steady C-D Ratio, (2) focus on strengthening fee income, (3) range-bound Opex ratios with no aggressive investments in sight, (4) pristine asset quality metrics, and (5) adequate capitalisation.”

IDFC First Bank: During the second quarter of FY25, IDFC First Bank posted a 73 per cent YoY drop in net profit at Rs 201 crore, impacted by a sharp rise in provisions. During the July-September quarter, provisions of the bank rose 228 per cent to Rs 1,732 crore against Rs 528 crore a year ago. Healthy growth in the bank’s loan book and largely stable asset quality aided the lender’s performance. Consequently, the NII rose 21 per cent to Rs 4,788 crore. Earlier, IDFC First Bank had announced the completion of the merger of IDFC Limited with the bank, effective from October 1, 2024. 

Swiggy: Online food delivery aggregator Swiggy has been trending on its IPO announcement and the ongoing competition it is facing from its rival, Zomato. Swiggy is set to open for public subscription on November 6, with the window closing on November 8 and through this IPO, Swiggy is planning to raise approximately Rs 11,300 crore. The price band for Swiggy’s IPO has been set between Rs 371 and Rs 390 per share, as reported by Bloomberg. The IPO, if fully subscribed, will rank among India’s largest public listings. Meanwhile, the competition with Zomato too has kept the firm buzzing with the two online food delivery platforms recently announcing a hike in their platform fee. Per a report by Macquarie, Swiggy is ‘4-6 quarters behind’ its rival Zomato in key metrics within the food delivery and quick commerce sectors.

Waaree Energies: On October 28, Waaree Energies made a strong market debut with its shares getting listed at Rs 2,550, a 70 per cent premium over its issue price. Waaree is a manufacturer and exporter of solar modules having a capacity of 13.3 gigawatt (Gw), which grew 6-times in just three years from 2 Gw in FY21. It has a market share of 21 per cent in India and a 44 per cent share in exports of solar modules from India. The company raised Rs 4,321 crore via IPO. The IPO proceeds, it said, will be utilised to partly finance its 6 Gw ingot, wafer, solar cell and solar PV module manufacturing facility in Odisha.