Japan Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : In 2024, Indrani Sen, a Mumbai-based food blogger, was distressed by the growing distance with her then 16-year-old daughter. The digital-savvy 47-year-old found the solution in Pengu—a mobile app she installed on both their phones that let them raise an artificial intelligence (AI) pet penguin together.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Ever wonder why Germans seek perfection, Japanese pursue miniaturization and waste reduction, Americans are fussy about services and Indians settle for improvisation and what’s good enough? Is it something to do with where you reside? With pervasive technologies, affordable means of communication, maturing labour and capital markets and instant information dissemination, one may think that geography has become history, that who you are trumps where you are. But is it that simple? Or is geography destiny? “Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from," notes writer Malcolm Gladwell.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. China has just announced that births in 2025 plunged to 7.92 million, from 9.54 million the previous year, and almost half of what was projected (14.33 million) when the one-child policy was repealed in 2016. In fact, China’s births have fallen to a level comparable to that of 1738 CE, when the country’s total population was only about 150 million.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Julian Scot-Smith was window shopping at a Porsche dealership with his wife in London’s fancy Mayfair district before Christmas, sizing up the SUVs. Then the couple peeked into another dealership around the corner.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Japan’s long-term government bond yields surged to multi-year highs Tuesday, spurred by fears that an upcoming election could lead to a consumption-tax rate cut that might worsen the country’s public finances. A key focus of the campaigning will be a potential cut to Japan’s consumption tax, as both ruling and opposition parties seek to win over voters with measures to alleviate the burden of rising living costs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Precious metals climbed Monday after President Trump threatened 10% tariffs on imports from eight European countries starting February. “Trump’s latest tariff announcement has escalated trade tensions into an entirely new dimension—one driven less by economic logic and more by political motive," two members of ING’s economic and financial analysis division said in a research note.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For as long as most working professionals can remember, money has cost nothing. Not literally nothing, of course, but close enough that the difference didn't matter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. This year’s Henley Passport Index is out and India has some reason to cheer. The country’s passport now ranks 80th on this annual chart published by Henley & Partners, a London-based global citizenship and advisory firm, up from its 85th rank in 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Japan, the US and other countries with sovereign debt at or above total GDP need to shrink their fiscal deficits to keep their debts from growing to terrifying levels. The problem is particularly concerning when a country faces higher real interest rates, since fiscal deficits rise further when the government refinances debt.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Investment firms including Hornbill Capital and Japan’s MUFG-backed Dragon Funds are evaluating a stake in lending startup KreditBee as part of a proposed $100–120 million fundraise ahead of the company’s planned initial public offering, three people familiar with the matter said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The government may roll out incentive packages worth up to ₹23,000 crore in the Union Budget 2026 to boost domestic manufacturing of high-value capital goods and reduce dependence on imports, according to an Economic Times report. The schemes are currently under preparation and could be announced in the upcoming budget.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. POSITIVE THINKING can help people who are feeling down. Politicians, too, have long understood that gloomy expectations can become self-fulfilling.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. U.S. voters aren’t the only ones up in arms about affordability.

Write to Jon Emont at [email protected] all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

flat steel products at 12% for the first year, 11.5% for the second and 11% for the third year. India had notified an interim order imposing the duty in April to halt the surge in imports, which had lapsed on 7 November.Benchmark HRC prices had fallen to ₹47,100 per tonne in November, a 10-month low, while rebar prices stood at ₹47,000 per tonne, a five-year low due to low demand and oversupply.Hot rolled coil is used in automobiles and home appliances, while rebars are used in construction and infrastructure.Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, AMNS India and Steel Authority of India did not respond to Mint’s queries on price hikes.According to Niladri N Bhattacharjee, Partner and Metals and Mining Industry Leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, the December safeguard duty, coupled with a weaker rupee, has raised the cost of steel imports from countries such as China and Japan, giving domestic producers confidence to raise prices.“Supported by strong domestic demand, these factors have allowed steelmakers to push through price hikes.

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Business activity in India’s manufacturing and services industries softened as companies grappled with subdued demand, increased competition and inflationary pressures.The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) Business Activity Index hit an 11-month low of 58 in December, falling from 59.8 in November. With slower new work orders and easing output, companies refrained from recruiting additional staff.Plus, operating expenses rose, with cost pressures reportedly stemming from building items, chemicals, medical supplies, salaries, vegetables and office maintenance fees.“Anecdotal evidence suggested that growth was constrained by a greater presence of alternative providers and cheaper services offered elsewhere,” the services PMI survey report said.

Mint reported on 23 December, quoting official data, that Japan is now the fifth-largest source of foreign direct investment into India.MUFG, which is one of Japan’s largest private lenders, is in discussions with multiple Indian IT services firms, including Tech Mahindra, for hiring support, the two people said, though the bank’s current India headcount could not be independently verified.The lender has two tech centres in Bengaluru to support back-end IT functions for the bank and enterprise solutions for the parent firm. MUFG ended last fiscal year with a net interest income of $20.8 billion, up 12% from the year-ago period.“They are mainly having talent requirements for Linux, .NET, and Java roles, apart from other AI and cybersecurity requirements,” said one of the two people.Manufacturing conglomerates are making similar moves.

artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and electronics to solar power equipment, medical devices and defence systems.China’s dominance in the silver market does not stem from mining strength but from its overwhelming control over refining. According to the London Bullion Market Association’s (LBMA) list of accredited refiners for global over-the-counter trading, China hosts 27 silver refineries, followed by Japan with 13.

Stock market recap: Indian equities ended lower on Monday, 5 January, despite positive global cues as investors booked profits in select heavyweights amid increased geopolitical tensions after the US military action in Venezuela, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.However, the US attacks on Venezuela did not deal any significant blow to global markets. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Korea's Kospi jumped over 3% each, while China's Shanghai Composite rose by over 1%.

New Delhi: Homegrown carmakers Tata Motors, and Mahindra and Mahindra are increasingly improving the speed at which they develop products to gain market share in an intensely competitive domestic market, according to senior executives at auto component makers working with the companies.Indian carmakers have reached parity with European, Japanese and Korean automakers and are increasingly catching up to the speed of Chinese carmakers in rolling out new products, according to top executives at US-based component major BorgWarner Inc. and homegrown auto part maker Lumax Auto Technologies Ltd.This comes in the backdrop of Indian automobile manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd reaching the number two rank in annual sales in 2025 for the first time in at least a decade, since retail registration data became available, toppling Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor India Ltd.The shift is inevitable, Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO of Mahindra’s automotive division, said.