Malaysia Financial News

NEW DELHI : Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has entered the fray to acquire a significant majority stake in Ayana Renewable Power Pvt. Ltd, as India’s largest crude and natural gas producer seeks to bulk up its clean energy portfolio. The state-run ONGC has submitted a non-binding offer for Ayana, which is looking to sell even up to a 100% stake at an equity valuation of about $800 million, said two people aware of the development.

₹321.6 crore in the December quarter, against a net loss of ₹401.3 crore a year earlier. With its ambitious expansion plans across the green energy ecosystem, ReNew has been looking at options to raise funds both through asset sale and debt financing. In February, Mint reported that ReNew Energy Global Plc is in talks with Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries Ltd to sell solar energy projects totalling 350 megawatts (MW), with the deal estimated to be valued at around $241 million at the enterprise level and around $121 million in terms of equity.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), the country’s regulator, has approved the trading of the Worldcoin (WLD) token on digital asset exchanges recognized by the SC.

palm oil imports registered a 34.11 per cent jump on-year in April to 6,84,000 tonnes, buoyed by a fall in global prices, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said on Tuesday. Palm oil accounted for 52 per cent of India's total edible oil imports of 13,04,409 tonnes in April, the trade body said in a statement, adding that sunflower and soybean oils import stood at 6,20,315 tonnes. Including non-edible oils, overall vegetable oil imports rose 26 per cent in April to 13,18,528 tonnes compared to 10,50,189 tonnes a year ago, it said. Bearish global prices encouraged higher imports of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palmolein and crude palm oil (CPO), which declined by nearly USD 100 a tonne last month, SEA said.

export ban on onions 10 days ago, export demand has dried up as Indian onion is more expensive than Pakistan's. Besides, subdued exports dampened domestic onion prices by over 15 % in the last week. Exporters don't see demand coming for another 15 days as overseas buyers, who have stocked overpriced Pakistani onions when Indian onion was not available. They want to liquidate their stocks as India's entry has crashed the international onion prices by more than 50% in a week. «Most of the buyers from our traditional markets like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, UK and the UAE had stocked onions from Pakistan. They had not expected the Indian government to lift the export ban till the general elections were over,» said an exporter of onions from Nashik, who claims that the export orders, after spiking for a couple of days, have suddenly dried up. India's lifting of its export ban in May took the international markets by surprise. India has kept a minimum export price (MEP) of $550 per tonne with export duty of 40%.

Money managers are digging in their heels over a popular emerging-market bet in early 2024 even as the trade has unraveled five months into the year. 

ASEAN — will hold the next round of talks in July to review the existing free trade agreement in Jakarta, Indonesia, an official statement said on Sunday. The last round of the three-day negotiations concluded on May 9 in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The discussions for review of AITIGA (Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement) started in May 2023 to make it more trade-facilitative and beneficial for businesses across the region, the commerce ministry said. A joint committee, which is undertaking the review work, has so far met four times.

NEW DELHI : Radihika Khanijo is busy planning vacations this summer for a few uber wealthy clients to a destination that hadn’t been on her luxury travel firm’s radar ever before: South Korea. The Asian country is suddenly on the map of Indian travellers, says the founder of Welgrow Travel, and part of the reason is its easy visa process. “South Korea is seeing a big rise in travel demand from discerning travellers.

Bank of England sent its clearest signal yet that it was closing in on interest-rate cuts, with Governor Andrew Bailey indicating markets were underpricing the pace of easing in the months ahead. The BOE governor made his comments after the UK central bank voted 7-2 to keep the base interest rate at 5.25%, a decision announced Thursday in London. He said recent inflation data have been “encouraging.” Meanwhile, price pressures in Brazil continued to ease, prompting the central bank to cut interest rates but at a slower pace.

Mint looks at the issue and analyses what it could mean for the $4-billion export sector. On 5 April, Hong Kong’s food regulator suspended the sale of MDH spice mixes saying they contain high levels of ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic. Singapore followed suit with Everest, another top Indian spice brand.

Democracy Perception Index revealed a striking sentiment among Indians, with nearly 75% expressing concern that global corporations pose a threat to democracy. As per the survey findings, after economic inequality and corruption, global corporations are viewed as the third most significant threat to democracy. The US also stands out as among the countries with the highest levels of the perceived threat from global corporations. India is also ranked top among countries fearing that big tech companies like Google, Amazon and Meta threaten democracy.

Indian Navy is looking forward to further enhancing its operability with the Singapore Navy and understanding of each other's operational philosophy by holding joint maritime exercises, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Read Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar has said. Addressing a reception for 150 guests from Singapore's defence sector, heads of diplomatic missions and Indian diaspora on board INS Shakti at the Changi Naval Base on Tuesday, he said the navies of the two countries are planning to hold the 31st edition of the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) which will be held at Visakhapatnam in the fourth quarter of this year. «We will be undertaking the 31 Edition of SIMBEX (and) we have done the planning at the working level for the event to be held in the fourth quarter of this year at Visakhapatnam,» Dhankhar who is leading the Indian Naval Ships Delhi, INS Shakti, and Kiltan to Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. «We look forward to further enhancing our operability and understanding of each other's operational philosophy and also increasing the competency of our bilateral exercise in keeping with the times that we are witnessing,» said Dhankhar who in the past had been associated with a two-year training programme for the Singapore Navy.

Mint with a rueful smile. She may be playing a huge role behind the scenes of India’s national election, the largest democratic exercise in the world, but for all that, 42-year-old Vishalakshi is a simple, unassuming person. The post-graduate in organic chemistry, who also heads the quality department of the company, is responsible for ensuring that the ink leaves an indelible mark on the voter, one that will remain for at least 72 hours.

Thailand has extended its visa exemption program for tourists from India and Taiwan for another six months, allowing these travelers to enter the country without a visa until November 11, 2024. The move aims to attract more foreign visitors to boost Thailand's economy, which relies heavily on tourism. According to a Bloomberg report, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced the extension following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, indicating that travelers from India and Taiwan can stay for a maximum of 30 days without a visa. This extension comes after the success of the initial waiver implemented last November. Previously, tourists from India and Taiwan were allowed to stay in Thailand for only 15 days under a visa-on-arrival scheme. By extending the exemption, Thailand hopes to encourage longer stays and more frequent visits from these countries.

tourist arrivals, Sri Lanka has renewed visa-free entry for visitors from India and six other select countries, aiming to make travel more accessible and convenient for international tourists. The countries included in this initiative are India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, allowing their nationals to visit Sri Lanka for up to 30 days without visa fees. The Sri Lankan government's decision comes as part of efforts to rebuild the tourism industry, which has faced significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the country's ongoing economic and political crises. The visa-free entry scheme, launched in October as a pilot project, reflects Sri Lanka's commitment to promoting tourism and creating seamless travel experiences for visitors from key markets. Although the visa-free entry allows visitors from the select countries to stay in Sri Lanka for 30 days, they are required to apply for their visa online through the website www.srilankaevisa.lk before their arrival. This online application process is designed to ensure smooth processing while maintaining security checks for incoming tourists.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company will invest $2.2 billion over the next four years in new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Malaysia

gloves, which are getting dumped in the country from Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Vietnam, people aware of the development told ET. The meeting to be held by the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) will discuss bringing surgical gloves and single-use medical examination gloves under the quality control order (QCO) to ensure better standards for these products whether imported or manufactured in the country, sources said. At present, these gloves are not regulated properly, resulting in import of substandard gloves rejected in other countries. Senior officials from the textiles department, the country's drug regulator, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and industry associations will attend the meeting. They will discuss issues of importers procuring substandard gloves at prices lower than the manufacturing cost of medical/surgical gloves and dumping of cheap rubber gloves from countries like Malaysia and Vietnam, sources cited above said.

Israel-Palestine-related boycotts, as per a Reuters report. Although the number of affected stores wasn't specified, local media indicated that over 100 outlets were temporarily shut down, it added. The franchise has 600 outlets in the country.

solar manufacturers filed trade complaints Wednesday formally requesting that the Biden administration impose tariffs on solar products being exported from Southeast Asia into the United States. The petitions were filed with the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. They come amid growing alarm within the U.S. solar industry that a flood of cheap Chinese green energy technology exports are pushing down prices of solar panels and threatening efforts by the Biden administration to develop a domestic solar supply chain. Chinese companies have been relocating production of solar products to neighbouring countries to avoid existing tariffs, and U.S. manufacturers believe new trade measures are needed to protect their businesses. The complaints call for investigations into the trade practices of Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. In the past year, the United States has imported $12.5 billion worth of solar products from those countries as prices of solar products have dropped by around 50%.

Worldcoin executives have met with top Malaysian officials amid ongoing privacy concerns and regulatory challenges.