China Financial News

An image on the 3 April cover of The Economist shows an angry US President Donald Trump shouting on one side, with China’s President Xi Jinping calmly smiling on the other. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” says the headline.A revealing picture in the White House’s archives shows US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai shaking hands in Beijing on 9 July 1971, when Kissinger made his secret dash for a détente with China. The press was told that Kissinger was unwell and resting in Pakistan.

NEW DELHI: India took a major step towards nuclear fuel self-reliance when its indigenously developed Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu attained criticality on 6 April. This is the stage when a nuclear chain reaction can sustain itself.This will enable India to leverage its vast reserves of thorium and reduce dependence on uranium imports.

The turmoil of the last year-and-a half— tariff wars and physical wars (Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine), the abduction of a head of state and assassination of another, territorial ambitions and tattered alliances—has led to claims that the Pax Americana of stable global institutions managing commerce and conflict has ended. If that is true, what comes next? This uncertainty has fostered many forecasts of the future of global politics by policy pundits.Consider the analysis of Hal Brands, a historian at Johns Hopkins University and the American Enterprise Institute.

For the emerging megacities of Asia, the oil crisis that spread out from the Strait of Hormuz is like the acute phase of a chronic condition. The largest migration in human history is filling their streets and alleyways to bursting point.Urbanization and births will add a billion more people between now and 2050. Jakarta and Dhaka, with 42 million and 37 million people respectively, have overtaken Tokyo at 33 million as the world’s biggest metropolises.

rare earth magnets critical for automobile, defence, electronics and wind energy sectors, among others.The scheme received the Union Cabinet's assent on 26 November last year, following which interested parties have begun consultations with the government. The scheme’s target is to create a magnet making capacity of 6,000 tonnes per annum in India."The government's benchmark is that ₹1,000 crore investment will be needed for 1,200 tonnes of magnet making capacity.

NEW DELHI: A shortage of refrigerated containers (reefers) caused by the West Asia war is worrying Indian growers of mangoes ahead of the peak export season, according to five people aware of the development.With the war in its second month, key maritime routes, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, have been disrupted, leading to container shortages and higher freight costs. Many containers are stuck in transit due to congestion or are being re-routed, leading to longer shipment cycles.This poses a unique problem for India, which produces 20.68 million tonnes, or 44%, of the world's mangoes annually, the most by any country.

For at least a decade, developing countries across Asia and Africa have worried about growing dependent on the People’s Republic of China. They’re concerned about debt traps, coercive policies and hidden costs that might push their economies toward crisis.Crisis has come, and that logic has been turned on its head. After six weeks of the US and Israel’s war on Iran and its ensuing counter-attacks, it is the countries that bet on Chinese supply chains that are faring better than the ones that had trusted Pax Americana.

₹2,600 crore into its automobile subsidiary, JSW Green Mobility, since its inception—signalling a serious push into India’s passenger and commercial vehicle market as it gears up for a FY27 debut.Billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is targeting the October–December quarter of financial year 2027 to launch its first passenger vehicle, after infusing about ₹2,600 crore into its automobile subsidiary, JSW Green Mobility, since inception.According to Mint’s review of multiple filings with the ministry of corporate affairs, the capital was deployed primarily toward setting up plant operations for passenger and commercial vehicle businesses in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, alongside general corporate purposes and debt repayment.With interests spanning steel, energy and paints, JSW’s move marks its most decisive diversification yet—and places it alongside Tata Group and Mahindra as the third major Indian business house entering the automobile sector.While the automobile subsidiary was incorporated in 2023, filings show it did not receive meaningful financial support from group firms until December 2024—when chairman Sajjan Jindal publicly declared JSW’s intent to build its own automobile brand.Funding from group companies accelerated sharply after that announcement.Queries sent to JSW Group remained unanswered.“Our idea is not to be an outpost of a Chinese company to sell products in India,” Jindal told the Financial Times in December 2024. “We want to manufacture the products in India, value-add in India, and sell them in India.”The company is scheduled to launch its first car in the October–December quarter of financial year 2027.

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As we enter a new fiscal year, both the government and industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) would do well to focus on what truly drives sustained growth in India: Is it the demand or supply side of the Indian economy?In ten-pin bowling, a strike happens only when the head pin is hit. Economic strategy is no different. If India wants to trigger a virtuous cycle of 8% growth, it must hit the right first pin.

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Mint, the company “has started receiving queries and having conversations with at least two West Asian nations to supply space-based sensing and Earth observation data”.Speciale Invest and Infosys-backed GalaxEye is in the race for surveillance satellite solution services. Suyash Singh, co-founder and CEO, said the company is ready to launch its Drishti optical and synthetic aperture radar (OpToSar) surveillance satellite this quarter, following which surveillance imaging and data services will commence commercially from July.“There is certainly a lot of interest, but the number of surveillance satellites that can cater to foreign demand in the current war from India is only in double digits, as compared with the US having hundreds of satellites in orbit," Singh said."We’re launching a 1.5-metre earth observation satellite in about two months, and in anticipation of the future demand based on queries received, have established plans to set up a 0.5-metre resolution satellite constellation of 20 satellites for Earth observation and surveillance constellation by 2029,” he added.Space firms are therefore hedging their bets on surveillance satellites, seeking to tap into a global surge in demand for space-based data.Several factors are driving this shift.“One of the key factors is that many West Asian nations, including Iran, do not have sovereign satellite capabilities and run very limited and small-scale space programmes.

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Domestic steel prices have climbed sharply following the imposition of safeguard duty on imports in December. The war has further disrupted key trade routes, lifting freight costs and, along with rupee depreciation, increasing the pressure on imports.The spot price of hot rolled coil (HRC) has risen about 22% over its Q3FY26 average to ₹57,700 per tonne, but still remains below the landed cost of imports from China, giving domestic producers an advantage, according to a Nomura Global Market Research report.For Q4FY26, the average HRC price stood at ₹53,866 per tonne — a 14% sequential increase.

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (for 2026–2030), approved in March, retains the direction of its earlier Plans, serving as a setter of priorities and an instrument for policy coordination across China’s vast administrative system. The central question is whether this Plan will deliver what China’s economy needs: a decisive shift in favour of consumption-led growth.China’s growth model: The country’s growth has long relied on investment, industrial production and exports.

GDP growth in the December quarter and strong manufacturing activity. This placed India among the better-performing economies on domestic indicators and pushed it closer to the top of the table.Currency and equity markets showed some recovery in February compared with the previous few months, but remained among the weaker performers compared to peers.

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Having risen steadily over time, the share of Indian households who use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their primary source of fuel for cooking is now at 60% as of 2024. Another 33% of households still used firewood.This data comes from India's Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys, a series of large, nationally representative household surveys conducted by the National Statistical Office, which ask the head of the household what the primary source of energy used by the household in the 30 days preceding the survey was.

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Water is life. Our lives, environment and livelihoods depend on this vital resource. As we aspire to a new India, we stand at a crossroads in our water management journey.

Mint India Investment Summit held last week.Manufacturing firms, in particular, are increasing R&D spending, but say the absence of validation, at home and abroad, is becoming a key roadblock.“R&D is growing leaps and bounds…but not in the commercial space,” said Pradeep Kumar Kheruka, executive chairman of Borosil Renewables Ltd, at the panel discussion.Kheruka cited Borosil’s attempt to manufacture solar glass without antimony, a toxic chemical, as an example of innovation facing resistance. “We made glass without antimony…We proved that antimony is leaching out from glass, it should be banned and yet the question is how come nobody else has done it?” he said.Despite scientific evidence, the absence of global precedent has slowed domestic adoption.