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Shiprocket stock jumps post debut; ETSA 2026 Woman Ahead, Social Enterprise nominees
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Shiprocket shares extended their strong listing-day gains with a 6% jump on Thursday. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ AI agents go rogue
■ GCC hiring accelerates
■ Ex-Meta engineer slams Zuckerberg
Shiprocket CEO Saahil Goel
Shiprocket shares rose nearly 6% in early trade on Thursday, extending gains from a blockbuster listing a day earlier.
Driving the rally: On the BSE, the stock opened at Rs 149.31 and climbed to an intraday high of Rs 155.89, about 61% above its IPO issue price of Rs 97 and within reach of its upper circuit of Rs 172.20.
The stock closed at Rs 142.19, down about 1% at market close on the BSE.
Institutional backing: This also came after Goldman Sachs bought 40.24 lakh shares of Shiprocket at Rs 131 apiece on Wednesday — a transaction worth approximately Rs 52.71 crore — NSE bulk-deal data showed.
The investment bank had also participated as an anchor investor, with its funds and ETF picking up shares at the issue price of Rs 97.
Listing performance: The ecommerce logistics platform debuted on the bourses in a stellar listing on August 19 after raising Rs 1,617.48 crore via an IPO.
It listed on the NSE at Rs 131, a 35% premium, and surged to an intraday peak of Rs 156 before settling at Rs 143.10. It ended the day up 9.24% from its listing price and 47.53% above the issue price.
Swiggy group CEO Sriharsha Majety
Swiggy shares rise: Meanwhile, food delivery and quick commerce platform Swiggy’s shares rose as much as 5% during the day after Jefferies turned bullish on the stock and set a target price of Rs 435 per share. This implies a staggering upside potential of 59% from the stock’s previous closing price of Rs 274.
The company is also moving closer to its goal of becoming an Indian-owned and controlled company (IOCC) after its shareholders approved a proposal for the same.
The 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) is fast approaching. A high-powered jury led by Wipro’s executive chairman Rishad Premji will meet on August 25 in Bengaluru to pick the winners of ETSA 2026.
Today, we unveiled the nominees for two more categories: Woman Ahead and Social Enterprise.
Here’s a look:
Women Ahead: This award recognises women who have started their own ventures and are giving the best in the business a run for their money. The nominees are:
Read more here.
Social Enterprise: This recognises startups that best embody the ‘double bottomline’ model, one that combines profits with the public good.
Read more here.
Cybersecurity firms and enterprises are seeing a rise in AI agents exploiting loopholes or taking unintended shortcuts to escape testing environments, with some even taking control of their systems and hacking into others.
What happened: The Data Security Council of India (DSCI), part of industry grouping Nasscom, which runs cyber testing for several leading organisations, said it has observed several cases of AI agents escaping testing environments in unanticipated ways.
Agents are lying, blackmailing, secretly modifying code, carrying out phishing, and creating fake online identities.
What this means: Experts explained that this does not mean AI has developed intent or emotion, but rather that agents are reasoning to find the fastest, cheapest path to a goal, often in ways we cannot predict.
For instance:
Also Read: CrimeGPT comes knocking: Illegal AI services make cybercrimes cheaper and faster
Global capability centres (GCCs) in India are ramping up hiring, especially for specialised and mid-career professionals, as they shift from cost-focussed operations to technology, innovation, and enterprise transformation, according to Quess Corp.
Data decoded:
AI skills seek premium: AI-related skills are commanding a growing premium. Generative AI hiring surged 178% on-year, cybersecurity and cloud engineering demand rose 75% each, and data engineering grew 61%. Traditional business intelligence roles declined 14–16%, reflecting the shift to newer capabilities.
Also Read: GCCs building AI and cloud teams on back of seasoned IT talent
Arturo Bejar, a former Facebook safety engineer and Instagram consultant
A former engineering director at Meta Platforms testified against the company in a landmark trial, saying that CEO Mark Zuckerberg fostered a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram.
The allegations: Arturo Bejar, a vocal Meta critic, alleged this on the second day of his testimony in a trial over claims brought by US states that could reshape Facebook and Instagram.
"If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months," Bejar said.
Yes, and: Bejar also disputed Zuckerberg’s October 2021 response to allegations by whistleblower Frances Haugen, that Meta knew its products were unsafe for children and knew how to make them safe, but did nothing in order to pursue higher profits.
"You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids."
Background: Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits over alleged harm to children. Bejar has been a key witness against the company in three of the cases that have gone to trial so far.
Also in the letter:
■ AI agents go rogue
■ GCC hiring accelerates
■ Ex-Meta engineer slams Zuckerberg
Shiprocket shares jump 6% as Goldman Sachs acquires Rs 53 crore stake
Shiprocket shares rose nearly 6% in early trade on Thursday, extending gains from a blockbuster listing a day earlier.
Driving the rally: On the BSE, the stock opened at Rs 149.31 and climbed to an intraday high of Rs 155.89, about 61% above its IPO issue price of Rs 97 and within reach of its upper circuit of Rs 172.20.
The stock closed at Rs 142.19, down about 1% at market close on the BSE.
Institutional backing: This also came after Goldman Sachs bought 40.24 lakh shares of Shiprocket at Rs 131 apiece on Wednesday — a transaction worth approximately Rs 52.71 crore — NSE bulk-deal data showed.
The investment bank had also participated as an anchor investor, with its funds and ETF picking up shares at the issue price of Rs 97.
Listing performance: The ecommerce logistics platform debuted on the bourses in a stellar listing on August 19 after raising Rs 1,617.48 crore via an IPO.
It listed on the NSE at Rs 131, a 35% premium, and surged to an intraday peak of Rs 156 before settling at Rs 143.10. It ended the day up 9.24% from its listing price and 47.53% above the issue price.
Swiggy shares rise: Meanwhile, food delivery and quick commerce platform Swiggy’s shares rose as much as 5% during the day after Jefferies turned bullish on the stock and set a target price of Rs 435 per share. This implies a staggering upside potential of 59% from the stock’s previous closing price of Rs 274.
The company is also moving closer to its goal of becoming an Indian-owned and controlled company (IOCC) after its shareholders approved a proposal for the same.
The Economic Times Startup Awards 2026: Nominees for Woman Ahead and Social Enterprise categories
The 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) is fast approaching. A high-powered jury led by Wipro’s executive chairman Rishad Premji will meet on August 25 in Bengaluru to pick the winners of ETSA 2026.
Today, we unveiled the nominees for two more categories: Woman Ahead and Social Enterprise.
Here’s a look:
Women Ahead: This award recognises women who have started their own ventures and are giving the best in the business a run for their money. The nominees are:
- Pallavi Shrivastava (Progcap)
- Ankur Dahiya (Rozana)
- Minu Margeret (Blissclub)
- Pallavi Mohadikar (Palmonas)
- Malini Adapureddy (Deconstruct)
- Prachi Dharani (PayGlocal Technologies)
Read more here.
Social Enterprise: This recognises startups that best embody the ‘double bottomline’ model, one that combines profits with the public good.
- Padcare Labs
- Cornext
- Karo Sambhav
- Varaha
- CureBay
Read more here.
AI agents are finding new ways to bypass safeguards
Cybersecurity firms and enterprises are seeing a rise in AI agents exploiting loopholes or taking unintended shortcuts to escape testing environments, with some even taking control of their systems and hacking into others.
What happened: The Data Security Council of India (DSCI), part of industry grouping Nasscom, which runs cyber testing for several leading organisations, said it has observed several cases of AI agents escaping testing environments in unanticipated ways.
Agents are lying, blackmailing, secretly modifying code, carrying out phishing, and creating fake online identities.
What this means: Experts explained that this does not mean AI has developed intent or emotion, but rather that agents are reasoning to find the fastest, cheapest path to a goal, often in ways we cannot predict.
For instance:
- Cybersecurity firm FireCompass reported an agent that escaped its testing environment, took control of the system, and hacked several others, not to cause harm but to “win the challenge.”
- Palo Alto Networks found AWS Bedrock AgentCore’s sandbox isolation could be bypassed.
- Frontier AI labs including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and China’s Moonshot have disclosed increased instances of rogue agent behaviour.
Also Read: CrimeGPT comes knocking: Illegal AI services make cybercrimes cheaper and faster
India sees sharper demand for specialised, mid-career talent as GCC hiring accelerates
Global capability centres (GCCs) in India are ramping up hiring, especially for specialised and mid-career professionals, as they shift from cost-focussed operations to technology, innovation, and enterprise transformation, according to Quess Corp.
Data decoded:
- GCC hiring surged 12-14% in the March quarter, from 4-6% in Q3FY26.
- The GCC sector currently accounts for nearly 27% of India’s IT hiring demand, up from 15% in 2024.
- Technology roles account for 35%, covering AI, data engineering, and cloud, where talent availability remains considerably tighter.
AI skills seek premium: AI-related skills are commanding a growing premium. Generative AI hiring surged 178% on-year, cybersecurity and cloud engineering demand rose 75% each, and data engineering grew 61%. Traditional business intelligence roles declined 14–16%, reflecting the shift to newer capabilities.
Also Read: GCCs building AI and cloud teams on back of seasoned IT talent
Former Meta engineer says Instagram took a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach on kids under 13
A former engineering director at Meta Platforms testified against the company in a landmark trial, saying that CEO Mark Zuckerberg fostered a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram.
The allegations: Arturo Bejar, a vocal Meta critic, alleged this on the second day of his testimony in a trial over claims brought by US states that could reshape Facebook and Instagram.
"If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months," Bejar said.
Yes, and: Bejar also disputed Zuckerberg’s October 2021 response to allegations by whistleblower Frances Haugen, that Meta knew its products were unsafe for children and knew how to make them safe, but did nothing in order to pursue higher profits.
"You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids."
Background: Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits over alleged harm to children. Bejar has been a key witness against the company in three of the cases that have gone to trial so far.
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