Israel Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s top private-sector banks reported a marked improvement in asset quality in the March quarter, with no visible stress in their loan portfolios despite the US-Israel-Iran war.The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio either declined sequentially or remained stable, highlighting resilient credit performance across segments, largely due to lower slippages and stabilization in microfinance portfolios.While HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, RBL Bank and Yes Bank continued to report sub-1.5% GNPA levels, others, such as IndusInd Bank and IDFC FIRST Bank, saw a moderation in stress over the previous quarter.However, the improvement hides a cautious undertone, with lenders increasingly building buffers and stress-testing their portfolios against adverse global scenarios.Axis Bank has taken the most explicit stance, frontloading provisions to prepare for potential shocks. During the fourth quarter, it created a one-time additional provision of ₹2,001 crore as part of a voluntary enhancement of its provisioning framework.“Based on an assessment of evolving and unpredictable macro and geopolitical uncertainties, the bank created an additional one-time provision…This action is prudent and precautionary in nature and does not reflect deterioration in asset quality,” chief financial officer Puneet Sharma said in the earnings call on 25 April.The bank’s internal stress scenarios assume extreme conditions, including crude oil prices exceeding $150 per barrel, inflation at 7.4%, and a 20% currency depreciation in 2026-27.“Based on some of these test scenarios, we look at which accounts could go into NPL…and based on that, this number is right.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With equity markets roiled by the West Asia war and sharp swings in mid- and small-caps, investors are grappling with how to position portfolios.In an interaction with Mint, Trideep Bhattacharya, president and chief investment officer-equities, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, with average assets under management of ₹1.65 trillion in the March quarter, shares why he remains cautiously optimistic and how investors should navigate the current phase. Edited excerpts:Where do you see markets heading from here, given the recent volatility?We are incrementally positive on markets, particularly from a near-term perspective.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The conflict with Iran has entered a damaging new phase—a crippling limbo between war and peace that leaves the Strait of Hormuz closed and the prospect of escalation looming.The missiles and bombs that the U.S. and Israel rained down on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory salvos might have stopped with President Trump’s indefinite extension of a cease-fire.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.IN THE RUN-UP to Israel’s independence day, the motorway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is always festooned with flags. But this year, between the blue-and-white Israeli pennants hangs a another kind of star-spangled banner: that of America. Israel’s government had hoped that Donald Trump, the American president, would arrive on April 22nd to celebrate the 78th anniversary of its independence.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Iraqi militias backed by Iran launched dozens of explosive drones at Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states during more than five weeks of fighting, in what is becoming a shadowy war within a war pushing some of the world’s largest oil producers toward open conflict.According to at least one Saudi assessment described by a person familiar with it, up to half of the nearly 1,000 drone attacks on the kingdom came from inside Iraq. They included strikes on a Saudi refinery in the sensitive Yanbu oil hub on the Red Sea and oil fields in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, people familiar with the matter said.Drones launched from Iraq targeted Kuwait’s only civilian airport.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On 17th April Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, declared that commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open”. Shortly afterwards Donald Trump, America’s president, echoed his words: the conduit was “completely open and ready for business”.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A week is a long time in geopolitics. Consider the Hormuz flip in the theatre of economic warfare. Last Monday, after peace talks failed, America sought to choke Iran’s economy with an armed blockade of Iranian ports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian automakers are beginning to feel the operational strain of the West Asia conflict, with companies flagging supply bottlenecks, longer shipping times and rising costs, even as domestic demand remains resilient.Early signals from industry executives suggest the impact is weighing far more on supply chains than on demand, which has so far held up. The spillover is beginning to feed into production and exports, pushing up costs that companies are gradually passing on to consumers.At the centre of the strain is the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime chokepoint that has seen vessel movement fall sharply amid repeated disruptions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If you want proof that multilateralism is limping and hobbling, all you have to do is look at the latest ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held last month. The talks ended without any consensus over a global trade deal, adding yet another episode to years of paused global trade agreements.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Big banks in America have ridden a dealmaking boom that has helped drive demand for corporate loans and pulled record-breaking fees from the wild swings in financial markets. But the most surprising and intriguing news so far in the past week’s earnings parade of the US financial sector was the diverging fortunes of bond traders at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.The war in the West Asia has created a huge amount of uncertainty since the American and Israeli attacks on Iran began at the end of February, but mergers and acquisitions still got done and US commercial and industrial loans jumped by the most in more than three years.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Hostilities in West Asia may have eased, but oil prices remain well above pre-war levels. Though prices have stayed below $100 a barrel since the ceasefire announcement, conflicting signals from the US and Iran are keeping markets volatile.Mint looks at the near-term outlook.Yes.

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.Iranian leaders have portrayed the current cease-fire as a victory against an overwhelming U.S. and Israeli onslaught.

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.New Delhi must act urgently to gather a coalition of like-minded and like-affected countries to conduct diplomacy with the warring parties in West Asia. The goal is not so much to get them to stop fighting but to prevent their war from throwing the Indian and world economy into a severe crisis. US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will blockade the Strait of Hormuz for ships headed for or leaving Iran’s ports threatens to impose pain and suffering on hundreds of millions of innocents.

US-Israel and Iran escalated into a full-blown war in West Asia — and gold, instead of rallying, stumbled.Nippon India ETF Gold BeES, India’s largest gold exchange-traded fund (ETF), fell from ₹131.60 on 27 February 2026 — the day before the conflict began — to ₹110.72 by 23 March, shedding nearly 16% in under a month. The ETF has since recovered, gaining 11.5% from that low.

new point of economic leverage through its control of the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. and Israel have long been focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Thwarting Iran’s nuclear ambitions was one of Washington’s top reasons for going to war.U.S.

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.

Strait of Hormuz."The war will be over only when Israel wants it to be over and so it will continue in some form or shape and keep crude elevated," said the UAE-based ace investor Shankar Sharma. "The Indian market is going to be in a troublesome situation and returns at the portfolio level will remain muted as they have been for the past couple of years."Brent crude has risen 33% since the outbreak of the war on 28 February, reaching $96.62 a barrel on Thursday.

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The US-Iran ceasefire, framed as a two-week conditional truce, offers relief but is less of a resolution than a pause in a fast-escalating crisis. It follows nearly 40 days of sustained US-Israeli military pressure on Iran, itself an extension of the unresolved tensions that persisted after the 2025 Iran-Israel confrontation. In that sense, this ceasefire is simply a momentary recalibration in a longer strategic contest.At its core, the arrangement reflects a transactional bargain.