China Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.China is making strides in open-source artificial intelligence. Eighty percent of developers worldwide who use open-source AI tools are building with Chinese models, according to an estimate by our colleague Martin Casado, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Research from our firm and OpenRouter shows a significant increase in the use of Chinese open models last year, reaching in some weeks a high of 30% of all AI usage.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It has been an eventful week – once again dominated by developments around the US-Israel-Iran war.Iran said on Friday (17 April) that the Strait of Hormuz is open. The announcement came almost simultaneously from US President Donald Trump (via Truth Social) and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (on X).“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Srinagar: A prized forest delicacy among the world’s most expensive mushrooms is collapsing in the wild even as scientists in Kashmir say they may have found a way to cultivate it.Gucchi, or morel mushroom, has seen output fall sharply across Jammu and Kashmir—from around 2,000 quintals in 1991 to just 88 quintals in 2018—as erratic snowfall, shifting rainfall patterns and forest degradation disrupt the fragile ecological conditions it depends on.It is primarily found in the foothills and forested belts across districts including Poonch, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Anantnag, Bandipora, Kupwara and Pulwama.In Kashmir’s higher forests, collectors describe damp pine floors layered with decaying needles and logs—exactly the moisture-rich microhabitat where the mushroom once emerged reliably in spring. That seasonal rhythm, they say, has become increasingly erratic.At the same time, global competition is intensifying, with countries such as China advancing morel cultivation techniques and putting additional pressure on prices.Now, researchers at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K) say they have successfully standardized cultivation of Gucchi under controlled greenhouse and open-field conditions, a breakthrough in a species long considered nearly impossible to farm.“This is a game-changing breakthrough,” said SKUAST-K vice chancellor Nazir Ahmad Ganai.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Friday authorized 17 banks to import precious metals for the period from 1 April to March 2029, according to an official order.Of these, Union Bank of India and Russia- headquartered SBER Bank are authorised to import only gold, while 15 others, including Axis Bank Ltd, State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, and HDFC Bank Ltd, are authorised to import both gold and silver, the order showed. Bank of India, Deutsche Bank, Federal Bank Ltd and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd are also on the list.In FY26, Indian Overseas Bank was authorised to import only gold, which has now been expanded to both precious metals, the order showed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.China’s economy got off to a solid start in 2026, with its GDP growing 5% in the first quarter, according to official data released on Thursday. This exceeded the expectations of economists and struck the top-end of the 4.5-5% growth aim set by Beijing for the full year. Driving the expansion were China’s robust exports for the quarter, although its March shipments faced severe headwinds.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India has three good reasons to engage with one of the biggest open questions in economics today: the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs.First, the country has the world’s largest youth population. Second, its growth model has been dominated by software services, and AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude Opus are getting exceedingly good at writing code and finding bugs. But the third and possibly the most crucial point is this threat to entry-level positions comes amid an alarming oversupply of college graduates.The wage bump that graduates enjoy over school-leavers is shrinking and AI could further narrow the gap.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Muted earnings, premium valuations, currency weakness, relatively attractive emerging market (EM) peers, and India’s limited participation in the global AI value chain have reduced the country's appeal for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), says Arbind Maheswari, head of India equities at BofA Securities, in an interview with Mint. While global investors remain cautious, domestic flows will continue to support the country's market activity, he says. Edited excerpts of the interview:If we take a step back, in the post-covid recovery phase, India seemed like the only large emerging market that had a story to tell.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Big investors are no longer content to just back funds, they increasingly want to invest directly in the deals those funds pursue.In India’s private markets, this push for co-investment rights is giving limited partners (LPs) more control over where their money goes and better economics, while encouraging fund managers to offer such access to secure commitments and execute larger deals. What was once optional is quickly becoming standard in fund negotiations.“Co-investment has become almost a common ask by investors in any new fund raise.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.There is angst in the air about the US dollar’s once and future global role. For insight into the greenback’s prospects, pundits have looked to the British pound sterling, the dollar’s predecessor as the dominant international currency, and asked how economic stagnation, heavy debts and failed geopolitical adventures, like that in Suez in 1956, conspired to rob it of its global role.But informed observers can draw on a much longer history of international currencies—units used in cross-border transactions—stretching from the Dutch guilder of the 17th and 18th centuries back to the Florentine florin of the 14th and 15th centuries and the silver denarius of ancient Rome.In fact, it can be argued that the Roman denarius was the first true international currency.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: As landfill capacity tightens in major cities and energy security concerns rise, investors are beginning to revisit a sector long avoided for its execution risks. Waste-to-energy in India is emerging as a policy-supported investment theme, moving from a neglected infrastructure niche, but it remains early, illiquid and operationally constrained.The shift is being reinforced by new regulatory signals.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WHEN AMERICA and Israel began their war on February 28th, it was widely expected that Iran would choke off shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Few would have predicted that, less than two months later, Donald Trump would impose a blockade of his own, targeting traffic to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas. It went into effect on April 13th.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump is pitching a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as an opportunity for American oil-and-gas exporters. The squeeze on supplies is a bad omen for prices at the pump.The U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: India plans to prepare an Approved List of Battery Manufacturers (ALBM) to be the exclusive equipment vendors for government-supported energy storage schemes and projects, following a similar mandate for the solar sector. The goal is to ensure the country’s energy security by encouraging local manufacturing and reducing reliance on imports.The government may announce its plans for ALBM and introduce draft norms for localization in the current fiscal year, two people familiar with the matter said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For anyone scrolling through social media lately, Vietnam seems to have taken over the feed, with its cafés, coastlines and bustling streets firmly etched onto the global travel map. But the tourism buzz is only the surface of a deeper story.Emerging from the ashes of the war with the US and from being one of the world’s poorest economies in the 1980s, Vietnam is now seen as an economic miracle, delivering sustained high growth (8% in 2025) and reducing poverty to below 5% from nearly 80% in 1993.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The improvement in business ties between China and India has streamlined partnerships between companies in the two countries, providing a significant boost to JSW Group's automotive venture, according to Parth Jindal, director at JSW MG Motor India. JSW Group plans its debut car launch towards the end of the calendar year.The Indian government’s easing of investment rules for Chinese firms and the resumption of direct flights between the two countries have made it easier to collaborate with the group’s Chinese partners, Jindal told Mint.“While the relaxation of Press Note 3 has not directly benefited the auto sector, it has improved overall sentiment which, along with the resumption of flights, has made engagement with our partners more seamless,” he said.“India’s relationship with China has been improving steadily, and the relaxation of Press Note 3 has helped ease technology transfer processes between the two countries.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s nearly 80 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)—employing over 328.2 million people and contributing 31.1% to gross domestic product (GDP), 35.4% to manufacturing output, and 48.58% to exports—have been navigating a harsh global environment over the past five years. From the covid-19 pandemic-induced economic standstill to cost shocks triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war, recurring volatility in West Asia, and trade disruptions under the Trump administration, the sector has faced repeated stress.

Since US President Donald Trump started hiking tariffs last year, many commentators have called attention to Asian exporters’ resilience. But the narrowly concentrated gains in Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand have been driven primarily by electronics, obscuring the sharp divisions that a protectionist US and an export-reliant China are perpetuating across the region. Beyond electronics exports, other sectors are being undercut, leading several governments to announce targeted support measures for firms and consumers, even as headline growth has headed higher.

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Strait of Hormuz.The nuclear question is the oldest and most fundamental source of Western suspicion. Iran insists it has never sought to build a bomb.

, a 22-employee company with operations in Shanghai and San Diego, had been working on its own therapies. By poring over the patents from Western companies, the biotech found clues to improve its drug candidates.Within months, GluBio had made tweaks that produced more powerful and targeted therapies.

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