Malaysia Financial News

Tan told the Intel team his focus would be on engineering, saying it «won't be easy» to overcome challenges faced by the company. Tan, who was born in Malaysia, will start as Intel chief on March 18, according to the company.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: This month, India’s semiconductor push gathered momentum with Tata Electronics’ pact with Dutch major ASML and two new projects, a mini/micro-LED display fabrication unit in Dholera and an OSAT packaging facility in Surat.With nearly a dozen semiconductor initiatives now underway, how close is India to becoming self-reliant in chips?Tata Electronics’ pact with ASML, the world’s leading maker of chip lithography equipment, marks a key step in India’s entry into global semiconductor manufacturing by securing access to critical technology. Alongside the two projects announced in May—a micro-LED display fab in Dholera and an OSAT packaging facility in Surat with a combined investment of ₹3,936 crore—the move broadens India’s semiconductor base.The micro-LED fab positions India in advanced display manufacturing, while the OSAT unit helps plug a packaging gap, reducing dependence on Taiwan and Malaysia.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Climate Change & You is a fortnightly newsletter written by Bibek Bhattacharya and Sayantan Bera. Subscribe to Mint’s newsletters to get them directly in your inbox.How much nations consume, and how extravagantly, has a direct impact on the health of the planet, via what is known as the carbon footprint of consumption.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Several government committees, apart from the Niti Aayog, have asked for regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) to be institutionalized in India. The statutory backing of a legislative framework can ensure its meaningful use as a tool for assessing the costs and benefits of current and prospective regulatory measures. The inclusion of provisions related to RIAs in India’s recently concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) highlights the urgency to enact a central law on such study-based reports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The global jet-fuel crunch is hitting Asia’s low-cost airlines harder than their full-service counterparts. Governments should prepare financial or operational support to avoid further flight cancellations during the busy summer travel season—as well as outright shutdowns like the collapse of America’s Spirit Airlines.Discount carriers like Malaysia’s AirAsia, Indonesia’s Lion Air and Cebu Air of the Philippines are already bearing the brunt of the energy shock. Policymakers must consider targeted measures in the form of loans, grants or fuel price relief.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The nerves calm, the mind clear, a deep breath later, Akshay Thatte immersed face-first in the water. He was competing in the Static Apnea category at the AIDA Malaysia Freediving Pool Games last December. By the time he surfaced, 5 minutes and 16 seconds had elapsed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Investors will be keenly watching how the US-Iran war-induced volatility in raw materials in March impacted Hindustan Unilever Ltd's (HUL) margins when the packaged consumer goods giant announces its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.HUL is expected to post a profit after tax of ₹2,612 crore and revenue of ₹16,270 crore in the three months ended 31 March, according to Bloomberg's 21-analyst estimate. In the third quarter, it reported a net profit before exceptional items of ₹2,562 crore and revenue of ₹16,235 crore.The company, often considered a proxy for consumption in India, has had a tough March quarter, with several key inputs used across its product portfolio directly exposed to disruptions triggered by the US-Iran war.For example, the price of palm oil, a key ingredient for HUL, which makes soaps under brands such as Lux, Lifebuoy, Dove, Pears, Rexona and Hamam, has been rising as the war has pushed major producers such as Malaysia and Indonesia to increase their biodiesel capacity.Similarly, prices of liquid paraffin, used in creams, have edged up slightly.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.KUANTAN, Malaysia—The Pentagon’s push to get its hands on the rarest of the rare-earth elements leads all the way to this small port city in Malaysia.Here, Lynas Rare Earths, an Australian company, has begun pumping out heavy rare earths, the elusive kind that China dominates.“No one had made a separated heavy rare earth outside of China in 20 years,” said Amanda Lacaze, Lynas’s chief executive. The company’s chief operating officer, Pol Le Roux, said it had actually been 30 years.When China cut off exports of heavy rare-earth elements during trade tensions last year, automobile factories in the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If the Iran War has taught us nothing else, it’s that weaponizing shipping routes is now the military move du jour. That has rightly turned attention to the Taiwan Strait, but in this era of intense US-China rivalry, the Strait of Malacca is just as important.The shipping route—which carries roughly 40% of global trade and around 80% of China’s imported oil—has long been regarded as vulnerable to disruption. Southeast Asia’s divisions will make any crisis much harder to contain.

Since the West Asia war began, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd’s (GCPL) shares had dropped nearly 18% till Monday when it announced its March quarter (Q4FY26) business update. The shares have gained about 8% in the past two trading sessions.Margin pressures, given the higher palm oil price, seem to be worrying investors.

Mint. “There's been strong extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations in place for over a decade and that has now evolved into mandatory recycled content regulations as well.”The firm announced a first close of $220 million for its second fund, which has a targeted corpus of $300 million.

As the U.S. and China move from a battle over economic principles to managing the status quo, who is winning? Write to me at [email protected].

The Estée Lauder Companies has signed an agreement to acquire the stake it doesn’t already own in Indian luxury beauty company Forest Essentials, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2026, said Stéphane de La Faverie, president and chief executive officer of The Estée Lauder Companies.The deal completes an 18-year partnership with the luxury Ayurveda brand, which was founded by Mira Kulkarni.Forest Essentials sells Ayurvedic skincare and haircare products and competes with premium labels such as Kama Ayurveda. Estée Lauder had a 49% stake in the company in 2013, which it increased from a 20% stake it took in 2008.Speaking to Mint, La Faverie, said, “Today, this brand is the leader in prestige skincare in India, which is still a very small segment of the larger beauty business in India.

India has recently joined a growing list of countries weighing restrictions on children’s access to social media.Speaking on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit last week, information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government is discussing age-based restrictions on social media platforms. The remarks follow closely after the Economic Survey flagged the need to address “digital addiction” among the young.At the state level, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala are also examining similar restrictions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For much of the past 20 years emerging markets (EMs) have seemed doomed never to emerge. The world’s up-and-coming economies were supposed to offer daredevil investors a shot at outsize returns: the chance to profit from the superior growth of middle-income countries as they caught up with rich ones.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India slipped to the sixth position on Mint’s emerging market tracker in December 2025, as weakness across multiple external indicators dragged its composite score lower despite continued strength in broader economic growth and manufacturing activity. This marked the worst performance since February 2025, when the same indicators emerged as weak spots.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Editor’s note (January 15th 2025): This article has been updated to take in developments. FROM DRUG use to libel suits, Elon Musk has long been able to shrug off problems that would have imperilled most bosses.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India launched a surveillance drive following the identification of two suspected cases of Nipah virus (NiV) in West Bengal on 11 January. With two patients—both nurses—under observation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Kalyani in West Bengal, the Central government has activated the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) in New Delhi.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Global private equity firms Macquarie, Actis, Sembcorp and strategic investors such as Serentica Renewables and JSW Group are evaluating bidding for a 50% stake in Malaysian energy firm Gentari’s India business, three people aware of the development said. The first round of bidding is expected towards the end of this month.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Since Donald Trump returned to office, one country has borne the brunt of his fury. “We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world," he declared in April, “but China is the…‘chief-ripper-offer’".

₹8,000 crore, with assets surpassing ₹9,000 crore across 55 plants across India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Egypt.Often seen in impeccably tailored suits, he possessed a quiet, scholarly gravitas, though his interests spanned flying and painting. In his definitive biography of Birla, author Minhaz Merchant captures the essence of a man who managed to be both a “soft-spoken, sensitive individual” and a “hard-driving, visionary industrialist”.This refinement was anchored by a fierce sense of national pride.

Mint, more than half of SMEs lack access to affordable finance, real-time climate information and insurance products, forcing many to treat resilience spending as discretionary.The findings come as businesses worldwide face rising risks from natural disasters, with climate change intensifying extreme weather and geological events. There are an estimated 358 million SMEs globally.SMEs are often the worst-affected by climate disasters and the least equipped to recover.