Diwali is a holiday for most of India, but Dalal Street refuses to let the festive mood go to waste. For one special hour on Sunday, November 8, the trading terminals will light up as the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange open their doors for Muhurat Trading, the annual Diwali session that marks the beginning of Samvat 2083, the traditional Hindu financial year, and is seen as an auspicious time to begin new investments.
The special session will begin with a pre-opening session from 2:05 pm to 2:20 pm, followed by the main equity trading session from 2:20 pm to 3:30 pm. The one-hour window, held on the day of Lakshmi Puja, is the only trading that takes place on Diwali itself, and it draws investors who make symbolic first trades to welcome the new Samvat year with a gesture of prosperity and good fortune.
The roots of the tradition lie in Diwali's association with wealth and prosperity. During Lakshmi Puja, devotees worship Goddess Lakshmi, while businesses perform Chopda Puja, offering prayers before their account books, cash boxes and financial records, seeking prosperity in the year ahead. Over time, this age-old practice found a place on Dalal Street.
Investors began buying and selling shares during the special Diwali session as a symbolic way of welcoming the new Samvat, and the ritual has survived the move from handwritten ledgers to electronic trading screens with its central idea intact: start the financial year on an auspicious note.
This year's session comes on the back of a remarkable rally. The Sensex ended the week up more than 8.8 per cent, one of its best weekly gains in recent times, as foreign funds returned to Indian stocks. The index's seven-session pre-Diwali run of 10.6 per cent was its best in 35 years, adding 7,782 points.
On Friday alone, it gained 1,781 points, its third straight session of four-figure gains, despite an overnight crash in the United States market led by a rout in artificial intelligence stocks. Foreign portfolio investors drove the surge, buying Indian stocks worth about 49,500 crore rupees, roughly 5.2 billion dollars, on a net basis, according to data from the National Securities Depository and the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The rally was helped by developments abroad. The United States midterm polls raised hopes of policy stability and of a diplomatic resolution to the war in West Asia, which pulled crude oil prices down by about 20 per cent in under two weeks. Cheaper oil is good news for India, which imports most of its crude, and the combination of falling crude, a calmer dollar and returning foreign money gave the market a strong tailwind into the festival.
As always, brokerages have used the occasion to publish their picks for the new Samvat year, and the lists this year reflect both optimism and caution. The Times of India carried ten picks from SBICAP Securities, PL Capital and Motilal Oswal Wealth Management, spanning steel, banking, defence, jewellery, ports and textiles. At the top of the list was Tata Steel, with SBICAP Securities setting a target of 200 rupees, about 17 per cent above its current price of 171 rupees.
The brokerage pointed to the steelmaker's access to captive iron ore and its plan to lift India capacity to 40 million tonnes by the financial year 2031 as support for the company's growth story.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India, or MCX, was trading at 3,187 rupees, with a target of 3,633 rupees, a potential gain of 14 per cent. SBI pointed to its near-99 per cent share of commodity derivatives and an operating margin of roughly 72 per cent in the financial year 2026.
SPR Auto Components, trading at 4,374 rupees, carried a target of 6,150 rupees from Motilal Oswal Wealth Management, indicating a potential upside of 41 per cent, with the brokerage expecting the auto components maker to benefit from strong demand and its expansion plans.
Bharat Electronics, the defence public sector company, was seen climbing from 395 rupees to 490 rupees by PL Capital, a 24.1 per cent upside, supported by an order book of 68,720 crore rupees and openings in radar, missile and drone technologies. ICICI Bank, priced at 1,500 rupees, was seen heading to 1,900 rupees, or 26.7 per cent higher, with PL Capital expecting loan growth, stable margins and healthy interest and fee income to back earnings.
Blue Star, starting from 1,572 rupees, could reach 1,783 rupees, a 13.4 per cent gain in PL Capital's view, with low penetration of room air conditioners, rising demand for cooling and data-centre projects expected to fuel growth.
Titan, the jewellery-to-watches company, was seen rallying 35 per cent from 4,437 rupees to 6,000 rupees by Motilal Oswal Wealth Management, with strong jewellery demand, a push into premium products and a wider retail network expected to add sparkle.
Adani Ports, with shares at 1,850 rupees, could rise to 2,130 rupees, a 15 per cent gain in Motilal Oswal's assessment, with the brokerage projecting cargo volumes to expand at a 14 per cent compound annual rate between the financial years 2026 and 2028.
Shaily Engineering, the plastics engineering firm currently at 3,170 rupees, had an upside of 29 per cent to 4,074 rupees in the brokerage's estimate, with opportunities in GLP-1 injection pens, healthcare platforms and electronics seen powering growth. Arvind, the textile company, carried a target of 670 rupees from Motilal Oswal, 37 per cent above its current price of 491 rupees, with growth in garments and advanced materials expected to drive the business.
Other brokerages have published their own lists. SBI Securities identified 11 picks for Samvat 2083, including Tata Steel and Indian Hotels Company, while Samco Securities unveiled a basket of 12 investment ideas, including BSE, Adani Power, Tech Mahindra and Azad Engineering, along with two United States-listed exchange-traded funds aimed at hedging against rising crude oil prices and a weakening rupee.
The market outlook for the new Samvat year, however, is more cautious than the festival mood might suggest. Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, in its annual Muhurat investment outlook, expects Indian equities to deliver moderate returns in Samvat 2083, and advises investors to put asset allocation and quality stocks first rather than chasing short-term momentum.
The fund house pointed to India's projected gross domestic product growth of 7.1 per cent in the financial year 2027, backed by domestic demand and a broad-based economic recovery, and noted that large and mid-cap stocks looked relatively reasonable, with major indices trading at a discount to their long-term average valuations as of October 31, 2026.
For the year ahead, Kotak Mutual Fund said it would stick to quality companies, disciplined asset allocation and long-term investing, rather than sprinting after every passing rally. The mood, it said, was caution rather than unbridled optimism. Geopolitical tensions, swings in crude oil prices and a hawkish stance from global central banks could keep markets bumpy, and the fund house warned against mistaking the Diwali rally for a signal that easy gains would continue.
The new Samvat year therefore arrives with a mixed picture. Domestic economic fundamentals are holding firm, but geopolitical tensions, pricey crude oil, foreign investors heading for the exit in recent months before their return, and a wobbly currency are making sure the road ahead is not a smooth one.
The takeaway for Samvat 2083, as the brokerages and fund houses see it, is simple: be choosy, keep your eyes on company fundamentals, and do not expect fireworks-level returns once the Diwali ones fizzle out.
For the investors who log in on Sunday afternoon, though, the session is about more than the numbers. Muhurat Trading is one of the few traditions in Indian finance that has survived every change in the market, from open-outcry trading floors to algorithmic screens, and it remains a moment when the market pauses to mark the new year in the old way.
The trades made in that single hour are small in value compared with a normal day, but they carry a significance that no ordinary session can match: they are the first trades of Samvat 2083, made in the belief that a good beginning sets the tone for the year to come.
(Reporting based on The Times of India and Moneycontrol. Brokerage recommendations are the views of the firms cited and not investment advice.)