Malaysia Financial News

A sharp rise in exports in November, aided by a low base, helped pull India sharply ahead of other emerging market (EM) peers, as shown by the latest Mint's Emerging Market Tracker, even as the rupee and stock market performance remained weak. India, with a composite score of 71, was way ahead in the race.

Samsung’s India research & development (R&D) arm is the company’s most influential engineering team outside of its global headquarters in South Korea and alongside the US, a top company executive told Mint on Tuesday.According to Jong Bum Park, president and chief executive of Samsung Southwest Asia, Samsung’s India engineering operations account for the core development process of its second-largest revenue generator—smartphones. In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), Samsung generated $219 billion in revenue globally—of which 38% came from smartphones.The company’s semiconductor division, largely based out of the US and Korea, is its highest revenue generator.“The entire camera unit and its software for our flagship smartphones were developed and engineered entirely in India,” said Park in an interview.

Mint breaks down how Beijing managed this feat and what it means for India and the world economy.China’s outbound shipments have proved remarkably resilient. In the first 11 months of 2025, exports grew 5.7% even with average US tariffs at 47.5%. Sales to the US slumped 18%, but Chinese manufacturers more than made up for it elsewhere: exports to Europe climbed 9%, while shipments to Southeast Asia and Africa surged 15% and 27%, respectively.Largely, yes.

A week before Australia’s social media ban for under-16s kicks in, Meta has started pushing underage Australians off its Instagram, Facebook and Threads platforms.The ban, which comes into effect on 10 December, is aimed at shielding children from harmful content. Social media being what it is, the rest of the world is watching what many consider a doomed experiment. Age-faking has been a common practice for the underage to gain access to platforms and many under-16s are aware of VPN and other hacks to get around digital walls.

Vietnam’s Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) has proposed a long-term visa program to the government to maintain its lead in Southeast Asia’s fast-evolving travel market. The recommendations, submitted to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, include a “golden visa” valid for five to ten years to compete with Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia—countries that already offer such schemes to long-stay travellers, Báo Văn Hóa reported. The proposal comes at a time when Vietnam has regained 98% of its pre-pandemic tourism levels, making it the fastest-recovering destination in the region. In 2024, the country welcomed 17.5 million international visitors, overtaking Singapore and trailing only Malaysia and Thailand. The advisory board also suggested introducing a 10-year investor visa with the possibility of permanent residency after five years, and a five-year talent visa with a simplified renewal process, as reported by Thanh Nien newspaper. These programs could be piloted in key tourism hubs like Phu Quoc, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang.

Act East Policy is the reflection of PM Narendra Modi’s foreign policy marked by dynamism and action. With the changing dynamics of the world, PM Modi in 2014, introduced a new vigour in India’s foreign policy. He transformed the Look East Policywith a more dynamic Act East Policy (AEP). Introduced in 1992, the Look East policy focused largely on economic ties with the Southeast Asia region. This shift was not just symbolic but marked a significant strategic approach that emphasized deeper diplomatic engagement, stronger trade partnerships, enhanced security cooperation, and cultural exchanges with Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region. The Act East Policy placed India as an active stakeholder in regional affairs. Over the past 10 years, the Act East Policy has positioned India as an active and influential player in Southeast Asia. The Indian PM’s frequent engagements, high-profile summits, and strategic partnerships have strengthened India's presence in the Indo-Pacific, making India not just a participant but a leader in regional affairs. Modi has himself visited SE Asia multiple times. This include trips to Singapore (2015, 2018, 2024), which have strengthened economic and fintech collaboration, and visits to Indonesia (2018, 2022, 2023), where India expanded its maritime security cooperation.

Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said the new tariffs, announced on what is labelled as “Liberation Day” by the US administration, go far beyond what it had previously expected and are already altering the global economic outlook. The tariff regime now imposes a minimum rate of 10% on all US trade partners, with significantly higher levies on 57 selected countries. As a result, the effective tariff rate (ETR) for EU imports into the US has jumped to about 20%, while the rate on Chinese goods has surged to 64%. These figures compare with Fitch’s earlier March assumptions of 15% for the EU and 35% for China. Other Asian economies have also been hit hard. Vietnam now faces a 46% tariff, Thailand 36%, Taiwan 32%, India 26%, South Korea 25%, Malaysia 24% and Japan 24%. Sector-specific exclusions—such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, copper and lumber—may be negotiated separately. Also Read: Recession, not Liberation Day! India, US and world GDP may slump for Trump tariff 'insanity' «We estimate the changes will raise the overall US ETR to about 25%, which would be significantly higher than the 18% we had assumed for 2025 in the March GEO and the highest rate for more than 115 years,» Fitch said.

global trade tensions and sparking uncertainty in markets worldwide. These tariffs, designed to counter what Trump calls unfair trade practices, are expected to reshape global commerce in a significant way.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Local video streaming platforms focussed on regional languages and niche target audiences are increasingly getting a substantial chunk of their revenue from overseas Indian viewers, in some cases up to 40%.

The Huizhou 19-6 oilfield lies about 170 kilometres (100 miles) from Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province, Beijing's Xinhua news agency said. Test drilling has yielded a daily production of 413 barrels of crude oil and 68,000 cubic meters of natural gas, the CNOOC said. The state-owned oil giant's CEO, Zhou Xinhuai, hailed «successive breakthroughs in oil and gas exploration in the eastern waters of the South China Sea». CNOOC «has discovered 100-million-ton oilfields for two consecutive years, which creates a new growth pole for the continuous growth in offshore oil and gas production,» he added.

Emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Vietnam, which impose tariff on American imports higher than what the US levies on them, face a high risk of reciprocal tariffs, global ratings agency Fitch said. “Brazil, India, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey and, on a simple average tariff basis, Vietnam and Indonesia, impose notably higher tariffs on exports from the US relative to tariffs imposed by the US on imports from these countries,” it said. US President Donald Trump has threatened with his reciprocal tariffs announcement on April 2 against trading partners he says have been “ripping off” the country by imposing high levies. As per the Fitch report, the tariffs in these economies were higher, both on a simple and trade-weighted average basis. “On a simple average basis, the highest differentials are in Brazil, India and Turkey,” Fitch said.

Starlink nears regulatory approval in India for satellite broadband services, analysts say a victory there could pave a road into more emerging markets and boost the company's ambitions to add a million subscribers every year. There are still legal hurdles to overcome, and competition from companies such as Eutelsat and China's SpaceSail, which is entering Brazil, Malaysia and Kazakhstan. SpaceX also argues that U.S. regulations put it at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. But a foothold in India would be a potential $25 billion boon for Starlink, helping it reshape that country's satellite broadband industry and making an attractive case to other developing markets, experts say.

Vietnam, which has now emerged as the fastest-growing tourism destination in Southeast Asia. Now, Vietnam has emerged as the third-most-visited country in the region, with 17.5 million international arrivals in 2024, edging ahead of Singapore. It follows Malaysia, which had 25 million visitors, and Thailand, which remains at the top with 35 million. The numbers also make Vietnam, also referred to as the Land of the Ascending Dragon, the regional leader in tourism recovery. Five years after the Covid-19 pandemic brought global travel to a halt, Vietnam has regained 98% of its pre-pandemic tourism business, outpacing all its neighbours, including Thailand (87.5%) and Singapore (86%). The momentum shows no signs of slowing down. Nearly four million international tourists arrived in Vietnam in January and February this year, a 30.2% increase from the same period last year, according to figures from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism.

SUNDAY Hotels have opened in 10 countries across the globe including India, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam. SUNDAY Hotels, a premium brand of four-star and five-star hotels, was originally launched in May 2023 through a joint venture between the SoftBank Group and Oravel Stays. The initiative is part of Oravel's ongoing programme to spread its premium hotel footprint around the globe.

Ocean Infinity in a “no-find, no-fee” mission to solve aviation’s greatest mystery. The operation targets a newly identified 5,800-square-mile zone in the remote Indian Ocean, leveraging upgraded underwater robotics and seabed mapping tools. Ocean Infinity, which failed to locate the plane during a 2018 search, could earn $70 million if successful. Experts warn the mission faces extreme risks, from 60-foot waves to logistical nightmares in one of Earth’s most isolated regions.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has resumed, marking another effort to solve one of aviation's greatest mysteries. Malaysia has agreed to terms and conditions of an agreement with Ocean Infinity to resume the search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, its transport minister said on Wednesday. The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 square km in the southern Indian Ocean, based on a «no find, no fee» principle, minister Loke Siew Fook said in a statement. The firm will receive $70 million if the wreckage is successfully located, he said. The aircraft vanished on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Now, nearly 11 years later, Ocean Infinity has launched a fresh search in the Indian Ocean, 1,500 km off the coast of Perth, Australia.

Oracle said on Wednesday it would provide Singapore's defense technology arm with «isolated» cloud computing and AI services, in the company's first such deal in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian governments are frequent targets of cyber espionage campaigns and are facing escalating supply chain attacks, according to security researchers. Under the deal, the US firm will provide Singapore's armed forces and defense ministry with an «air-gapped» isolated cloud computing infrastructure — meaning that it will be cut off from the internet and connected instead to classified networks via encrypted devices.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, in its latest report, has expressed concerns over the functioning of India's drug regulatory authority-Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)-saying that the current licensing process is plagued by delays, inconsistent timelines, and a lack of transparency, hindering the growth of the medical device industry. «The Committee expresses serious concern that due to rigid process and inordinate delays by CDSCO, a large number of manufacturing units have gone to Vietnam and Malaysia. Rather, several medical devices manufacturers are scared to set up a unit in India due to delaying tactics of the CDSCO,» it said.

Lip-Bu Tan may be one of the most powerful technology executives you've never heard of. As he steps into one of the highest-profile jobs on the planet, CEO of troubled, storied chipmaker Intel, his performance will be on full display. Tan, named Intel CEO on Wednesday, faces an enormous challenge in turning around the operations of a company that put the «silicon» in Silicon Valley. While little known to the public, his advantage is that virtually every one of Intel's former and potential customers knows him and has done business with him, either buying one of the many startups he backed or using software from a company he ran.

dry spell that parched the land, then a spark, followed by some wind. Suddenly, swaths of South Carolina were consumed by voracious flames.