Stocks to Watch, December 24: Infosys, HCLTech & other IT stocks, Ajanta Pharma, Coal India, Biocon, Belrise Industries, GAIL

The domestic stock market is expected to open in the green on Wednesday, December 24. The GIFT NIFTY futures suggest that the NIFTY50 index will open 29 points higher.

Here is a list of stocks that may remain in focus.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it is amending regulations governing the H-1B work visa selection process to prioritise the allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid individuals to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers.

The new rule is effective February 27, 2026, and will be in place for the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration season.

The new system replaces the random lottery for selecting visa recipients with a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills, it said.

The agency said that the lottery system of selecting H-1B visa applicants was rife with abuse and was exploited by companies to bring in foreign labour at low wages.

The decision follows a specific directive from the Ministry of Coal to CIL to initiate concrete steps to ensure the listing of two of its primary subsidiaries – Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and SECL – within the next financial year.

According to the block deal data available on the NSE, SBI Mutual Fund (MF) purchased nearly 5.13 crore shares, or a 5.76% stake, in Belrise Industries, while BlackRock, through its arm BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund Inc., acquired over 70.50 lakh shares, representing a 0.79% stake in the company.

The shares were picked up at an average price of ₹153.70 apiece, taking the combined deal value to ₹896.73 crore.

Following the latest transaction, US-based BlackRock's holding in Belrise Industries rose to 1.85% from 1.06%.

The reduction in the final lending rates on the External Benchmark Linked Rate (EBLR) has been made possible through a tweak on the spreads, as per an official statement.

The base issue size was ₹5,000 crore with a green shoe option of ₹5,000 crore, the bank said in a statement.

The bank received a total of 83 bids, amounting to ₹15,305 crore. Out of this, the lender accepted 37 bids amounting to ₹10,000 crore.

The funds raised through long-term bonds will be used for funding long-term projects in infrastructure sub-sectors and affordable housing in accordance with RBI guidelines, it said.

The funds raised by the bank through this issue are not meant for financing any particular project, it added.

As part of this collaboration, HCLTech will participate in deep technical onboarding sessions with Microsoft’s Discovery team to align platform architecture and partner collaboration models and explore joint go-to-market opportunities. Following onboarding, HCLTech will take part in projects to accelerate solutions in areas such as chemistry and materials science, drug discovery and semiconductor design, leveraging its strong domain expertise across industries.

Through the Discovery initiative, HCLTech joins a select group of research institutions and tech innovators shaping the next frontier of innovation.

According to bid participant details released following the opening of technical bids, Axis Energy Ventures India Private Limited and Reliance Industries Limited jointly participated in bids for a large number of coal blocks across multiple states, underscoring their strong strategic interest in coal gasification and downstream value-added applications.

The two companies were common participants in bids for coal blocks located in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh, including prominent blocks like Badibahal-Kendudihi, Chhatabar Combined, Ustali, Recherla, and Chintalpudi Sector A1.

Under the terms of the agreement, Biocon will be responsible for supplying semaglutide to Ajanta for exclusive marketing in 23 countries and semi-exclusive marketing in 3 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

“This partnership with Ajanta Pharma is a strategic step in expanding the global footprint of Biocon’s GLP-1 portfolio and maximising the value of our scientific investments in complex peptide development,” Biocon CEO and MD Siddharth Mittal said in a statement.

Ajanta Pharma MD Yogesh Agrawal noted that the GLP-1 therapies have seen rapid global acceptance and have emerged as blockbuster products worldwide.

The project will be set up through NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance (NETRA), the Research & Development (R&D) wing of NTPC.

NETRA will set up a plasma gasification-based green hydrogen plant on its campus at Greater Noida, the company said.

The plant is designed to produce 1 tonne of green hydrogen per day, NTPC said.

The advanced plasma gasification technology will convert waste into tar-free syngas, which will be further processed to produce hydrogen using PSA/membrane technology, it said.

The OMO (Open Market Operations) purchase and swap auctions will be conducted between December 29, 2025, and January 22, 2026.

Announcing the decision, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it will continue to monitor evolving liquidity and market conditions and take measures as appropriate to ensure orderly liquidity conditions.

The latest announcement comes days after the RBI conducted ₹1 lakh crore OMO purchase auctions of Government of India securities and a USD/INR buy/sell swap auction of $5 billion for a tenor of three years.

Under the agreement, GAIL will carry out detailed techno-economic studies for setting up a urea manufacturing plant with a capacity of 12.7 lakh tonnes per annum, proposed to be located along GAIL's Mumbai-Nagpur-Jharsuguda natural gas pipeline corridor, the company said in a statement.

"Based on the techno-economic evaluation, an investment decision will be taken for setting up the fertiliser project by GAIL," it said.

Emcure Pharma: The company has received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) for its manufacturing facility located at Kadu, Surendranagar, Gujarat. The US FDA has classified the inspection of the facility as “No Action Indicated” (NAI).