_Markets open — regular Tuesday session_
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📊 *ECONOMY & POLICY*
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🏦 *No UPI charge for users, says Sitharaman*
Parliament passed the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, with the FM clarifying the enabling provision does not impose any tax or transaction charge on UPI users. NPCI’s steering committee will now decide whether a threshold-based MDR applies only to high-value merchant transactions — over 90% of daily UPI volume stays untouched.
📎 _Read: Free Press Journal_
⚡ *Govt rules out ethanol blending in diesel on safety grounds*
OMC R&D tests found ethanol-blended diesel fails required flash-point specs, sharply raising fire/handling risk, so the Petroleum Ministry has ruled it out for now — isobutanol blending also remains undecided. The 20% ethanol-in-petrol (E20) programme is unaffected and continues as planned.
📎 _Read: BusinessToday_
🏦 *Cabinet clears extra ₹30,000cr for NIIF infra funds*
The Union Cabinet approved an additional ₹30,000cr investment commitment to NIIF vehicles to draw further private capital into transport, energy, digital and urban infrastructure. ⚠️ Exact announcement date could not be pinned to today in source material — carried forward as still-relevant policy context.
📎 _Read: BankingFinance.in_
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🌍 *GLOBAL & WORLD*
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🔥 *Brent nears $88 as Trump’s new Iran demands cloud Hormuz reopening*
Brent extended its rally for a fourth straight session to ~$88/barrel, a two-week high, after Trump pushed back on Iran’s war-compensation demands even as Tehran neared a shipping-route deal with Oman. Sustained crude strength is a direct headwind for India’s import bill and rupee, and keeps OMC margins and inflation trajectory in focus.
📎 _Read: TradingEconomics_
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/brent-crude-oil
💻 *Nvidia lines up $500bn to make AI chips an “investable asset class”*
Nvidia partnered with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to mobilise over $500bn in third-party capital financing AI data-centre buildouts, letting customers borrow against GPUs as collateral rather than paying upfront. CEO Jensen Huang called it the first time tech chips have become “investable infrastructure” — a structural signal for global AI capex that Indian IT services and data-centre plays will be watched against.
📎 _Read: CNBC_
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/10/nvidia-wall-street-asset-managers-500-billion-ai-push.html
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_Compiled by InvestoScope · 11 Aug 2026_