Singapore Financial News

By Harry Robertson and Ankur Banerjee

Electric two-wheeler firm Pure EV on Monday said it has raised USD 8 million (around Rs 66 crore) from a consortium of investors. The funding was led by Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd, Hindustan Times Media Ventures, alongside Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt Ltd, existing investors and high net-worth individuals, Pure EV said in a statement. The Hyderabad-based company said it is currently in the final stage of concluding its Series A1 funding round, amounting to USD 25 million with the participation of a foreign institutional investor.

A term plan is as critical a requirement for non-resident Indians (NRIs) as for people living in their home country. It is all the more crucial for NRIs who might be away from their roots but would want to shield their family. With a term plan, you ensure that your loved ones are not burdened with financial liabilities even if you are not around.

Aroa Venture Partners, a 2020-founded venture capital firm that invested in companies such as Unacademy, Urban Company and Cred, has launched a new fund with a target corpus of Rs 400 crore (about $50 million). Aroa Opportunities Fund, which registered as a category II alternative investment fund (AIF) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in October 2022, has received in-principle commitments of over Rs 400 crore so far, founder and managing partner Gaurav Gulati told ET in an interaction.

₹ ₹ 1,09,947-1,44,871 recently. What made the purchase interesting was that the customer paid the entire amount in ₹10 coins. Ather Energy CEO Tarun Mehta took to social media to share a picture of the "new Ather owner" being handed over the keys.

Indian women beat Thailand 3-2 in a thrilling final to clinch their maiden gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships here on Sunday. The young and sprightly group of Indian women's team, led by PV Sindhu, defied all expectations as it rose to the occasion to come up trumps against two-time bronze medallists Thailand. It, however, needs to be mentioned that like most of the teams in the competition, Thailand were not at full strength. They were without their top two singles players — world No. 13 Ratchanok Intanon and world No. 16 Pornpawee Chochuwong. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is returning to action after a four-month injury-forced break, was back to her aggressive best as rode on her power and placement to outclass world no 17 Supanida Katethong 21-12 21-12 in the first singles and hand India a 1-0 lead.

Japan has unveiled plans to issue six-month visas catering to digital nomads with an annual income of ¥10 million ($68,300) or more. The initiative is slated to commence by the end of March. According to a Japan Times report, digital nomads, individuals who work remotely while moving between locations for short or medium-term stays, from 49 countries and territories, will be eligible for the «specified activities» visa category. This extends to self-employed applicants as well. Countries and territories eligible for this program have existing tax treaties and agreements that eliminate the need for short-term visas with Japan, including the U.S., Australia, and Singapore.

Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin stated that Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour" will not be held in Thailand due to a contractual agreement with Singapore, preventing her from performing elsewhere in the ASEAN region. As reported by Thai Enquirer reported that Thai PM Thavisin had conversed with the concert organizer, who disclosed the existence of the agreement preventing Taylor Swift from performing in Thailand as part of “The Eras Tour".

India on a long-term basis has great growth potential. It's a very appealing market. Therefore, we will try to seek various opportunities and if we can find another opportunity that would replace this type of plan," said Totoki.

Vistara and Air India pilots will have a uniform salary structure from March as the two airlines integrate their human resource departments as part of a broader consolidation of the Tata group's aviation business. As part of this, pilots of Vistara will get a fixed salary for 40 hours instead of the current 70 hours. They will get paid for extra flying hours and will also earn an additional amount as a reward based on the years of service with the airline, according to a memo sent to pilots and reviewed by ET. While restructuring of salary is the first step, both the companies will also align policies and other benefits subsequently, the pilots were told. However, a complete integration of operations will take time as it will happen only after receiving regulatory approvals.

rare earth minerals, electronics and pharmaceuticals as critical sectors to secure them against any future supply chain disruption. The move comes ahead of the Supply Chain Resilience Agreement of the 14-member Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) entering into force next week. As per the agreement, the member countries have to identify critical sectors and key goods for cooperation upto 120 days after the date of the entry into force. The agreement will enter into force on February 24, 2024.

RBI) signed terms of reference (ToR) with Nepal Rastra Bank on Integration of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India with National Payments Interface (NPI) of Nepal for cross-border remittances. The banking regulators of India and Nepal signed and exchanged Terms of Reference for integration of cross border payment between the two countries. The integration is aimed at facilitating cross-border remittances between India and Nepal by enabling users of the two systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers.

By Xinghui Kok and Joe Brock

(Reuters) — It's been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, bringing war to Europe for the first time in decades, while the markets' AI bull's seemingly unstoppable run continues, and China returns from a week-long holiday to economic uncertainty.

Infosys: Recovering from the loss of a billion-dollar deal in December, Infosys has kicked off 2024 with momentum, securing two significant contracts. The most recent is a $300 million contract with Singapore-based Pacific International Lines running until 2027, according to industry executives. The Singapore deal marks Infosys's second significant multi-year contract announcement within a month, following a seven-year agreement with Irish food retailer Musgrave on 31 January to automate its IT functions using AI and cloud solutions.

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of blockchain and crypto news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s news.

Icra Ltd expects India’s monthly trade deficit to stand at about $20 billion–$25 billion in the remaining months of FY24, resulting in a current account deficit of around 2.5% of GDP in Q3 and 1.7% of GDP in Q4FY24. “The exports dipping by 5% and imports dropping by 7% in first 10 months of the fiscal is largely an outcome of global slowdown and drop in commodity prices as well.

Carlyle Group on Thursday sold a 1.4% stake in private sector lender YES Bank for approximately Rs 1,057 crore. CA Basque Investments, the Mauritius-based special purpose vehicle owned by Carlyle Group, sold 39,00,00,000 shares of the lender at Rs 27.10 a share, bulk deals data on the BSE showed.

By Emily Chow

Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, holds a majority stake (50.2%) in Tata Play. The remaining shares are owned by Disney and Singapore-based investment firm Temasek, the report added.

By Xinghui Kok