Country Financial News

G20 Summit as ‘InkeG20’, to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury questioning West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attending the G20 Summit dinner, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lauding the New Delho G20 leaders Declaration. "This is what happens when you have no vision or mission.

Investing.com-- Oil prices fell from a near 10-month high on Monday, seeing a measure of profit taking after a stellar rally over the past month, although bets on tightening supplies still kept Brent above key levels. 

The US stock market, via the S&P 500, has returned an average of 7.2% adjusted by inflation and dividends over the last 30 years, which is pretty much in line with the 100-year 7.3% real average.

G20 summit in India, 15 years later. The financial crisis is over, but actions taken to tide over it have left the world with new challenges. At the same time, the world is more fragmented than it was in 2008.

US International Development Finance Corporation has approved a financial aid of up to USD 425 million (Rs 3,521 crore) to Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd for setting up a 4.3 GW solar cell in Tamil Nadu by its subsidiary. The plant's first module production is expected by year-end and the first cell production is expected in the first quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25), Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL) said in a statement on Monday. «The US International Development Finance Corporation board of directors approved USD 425 million of financing in TP Solar Ltd, a subsidiary of TPREL, for its upcoming greenfield 4.3 GW solar cell and module manufacturing plant at Tirunelveli,» the statement said. «We appreciate the DFC's assistance for our solar cell and module production facility in Tamil Nadu.

ET has gathered that the India-US Global Challenges Institute will soon take off as a virtual platform with a ten-member Governing Council co-chaired by the two countries and a physical secretariat/program office expected to be housed in New Delhi. While IIT Kanpur will lead the initiative from India with Director Abhay Karandikar representing Indian institutes as India’s co-chair, the US side is expected to bring in Association of American Universities President Barbara R Snyder as co-chair. The Institute will start off with a $10mln seed funding- jointly pitched by the US and India- to fund collaborative R&D in five-six key areas across partner institutes in the two countries. The first set of areas identified for collaboration are- sustainable energy and agriculture, health and pandemic preparedness, semiconductor technology and manufacturing, advanced materials, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and quantum science. ET gathers that the Institute will start off with five joint research projects- funded with $2million each. The idea is have two lead institutes from both countries for each project and these in turn will be linked to several other project specific institutes- like a hub and spoke model. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been inked between Indian universities, represented by the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Council), and the Association of American Universities (AAU) to establish the India-U.S.

Saudi Arabia have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation and investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, hydrogen, electricity, and grid interconnection. The pact also includes cooperation on petroleum, natural gas, strategic petroleum reserves and energy security, sources aware of the development said. Circular carbon economy and technologies like carbon capture, utilization and storage also found place in the agreement. The move comes right after the G20 New Delhi declaration, where a consensus was formed on various issues, including an effort for tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 and phasedown of unabated coal power. India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission aims for at least 5 million metric tonnes of annual production capacity by 2030 through renewable energy sources, whereas Saudi Arabia’s clean hydrogen is likely to be based on low carbon emission technologies. Partnership on localising sourcing material, products and services related to the energy sector, and supply chains and its technologies, were agreed on. The countries will strengthen the cooperation with energy companies, promote digital transformation, innovation, cyber-security, and artificial intelligence in the energy sector. As per India’s green hydrogen mission, the country aims to be an export hub for the fuel.

By Robert Harvey and Natalie Grover

Pakistan has found itself embroidered in a border dispute with Afghanistan, with the Torkham crossing remaining closed for most of last week. Officials accuse the Taliban-led government of encroaching on Pakistani territory with the construction of an 'unlawful structure'. It also accused Afghan forces of targeting Pakistan military posts with “indiscriminate firing".

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday alleged that members of the opposition INDIA alliance want to erase the Sanatan Hindu religion which withstood such attempts made in the past by Mughal rulers, the British and the Portuguese. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader's remarks came amid a political row after Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who belongs to DMK, blamed Sanatan Dharma for promoting division and discrimination among people and called for its eradication. Also, DMK leader A Raja had likened Sanatan Dharma to diseases like leprosy and HIV which had social stigma. «Mughal rulers like Babar, the British and the Portuguese, who came to Goa with the agenda of forced conversion, had tried to eradicate the Sanatan Hindu religion, but all of them failed.

Canada may revise its immigration targets as it continues to struggle with a growing housing crisis. The country aims to welcome 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. Canada's Housing Minister, Sean Fraser, has highlighted the need for a balanced approach to immigration policy, acknowledging the need to consider changes while maintaining a commitment to high immigration levels. In an interview with CTV, Fraser emphased on aligning immigration policies with the absorptive capacity of communities, including factors like housing, healthcare, and infrastructure, reflects a practical approach to addressing the issues at hand. This approach recognizes that immigration should be managed in a way that doesn't overwhelm existing resources and services. The recognition that temporary immigration programs may require improvement, particularly in their uncapped nature, indicates a willingness to refine immigration mechanisms to better serve both newcomers and the host communities. While Fraser acknowledged immigration's role as a strong competitive advantage in Canada's global economy, he also reiterated that it would not be right to to solely blame immigration for the housing crisis.

passenger vehicles in the country increased to its highest-ever level last month on back of robust demand for sports utility vehicles, however, wholesale volumes of entry cars and motorcycles remained weak due to pressure on disposable income of consumers at the lower end of the market. According to data available with industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), as many as 359,228 passenger vehicles were sold in August, which is an increase of 9.4% over 328,376 units sold in the corresponding period of the last financial year.Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM said, “Last month saw the highest ever August month sales for passenger vehicles and three-wheelers, while two-wheeler sales remained at levels similar to a year ago. We have also observed good growth in commercial vehicle segment in August 2023. Demand remained strong especially for newer models launched in the utility vehicle segments by Maruti Suzuki, MG Motor and Hyundai, mirroring the shift in consumer preference towards feature-packed larger cars.

In their joint declaration, the leaders stressed on strengthening primary healthcare, health workforce and essential health services to better-than-pre-pandemic levels, ideally within the next two to three years. Besides focusing on epidemics such as tuberculosis and AIDS, the grouping of emerging and developed economies recognised the importance of research on long COVID-19. The G20 leaders committed to improve access to medical countermeasures and facilitate more supplies and production capacities in developing countries to prepare better for future health emergencies. The G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration highlighted the need to promote the One Health-based approach driven by the quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022-2026) and enhance the resilience of health systems. It also stressed the need to support development of climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems in collaboration with multilateral development bank (MDBs), and support the work of the WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH). It also stressed on implementing and prioritising tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) following the One Health approach, including through research and development, infection prevention and control, as well as antimicrobial stewardship efforts within respective national action plans through AMR and antimicrobial consumption surveillance. The Declaration called for facilitating equitable access to safe, effective, quality-assured, and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures, especially in low-and middle-income countries and least developed countries. The declaration recognised the potential role of evidence-based traditional and

Investing.com — European stock markets traded higher Monday, with investors cautiously awaiting the latest policy-setting meeting by the European Central Bank later in the week.

By Giuseppe Fonte

Investing.com — Shares of Alibaba Group (HK:9988) (NYSE:BABA) slumped in Hong Kong trade on Monday after the e-commerce giant said that outgoing chief executive Daniel Zhang will also step down as the head of its cloud unit.

Surfing on Saudi-Russian production cuts, oil bulls will be seeking to defend the high price of $90 per barrel this week even with U.S. inflation data forecast to show a climb for a second straight month that could prompt the Federal Reserve to consider a more aggressive stance on interest rates.

UBS Group AG is cutting hundreds of wealth jobs in Asia just months after completing its takeover of rival Credit Suisse as the bank responds to muted client activity and China’s slowing economy. Switzerland’s largest bank reduced some overlapping roles in the past months and further cuts are expected through November, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the plans are private. The lender is set to eliminate a few hundred roles that include relationship managers in Hong Kong and Singapore, the majority within teams newly acquired from Credit Suisse, the people said. The number of cuts hasn’t been finalized, they said.

Diplomats and analysts said the surprise consensus in the summit statement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict avoided a split in the group, and the inclusion of the African Union as a new member represented a victory for host India and for developing economies, but the rest was disappointing. «The G20 has been at its best as a multilateral forum when it can forge consensus — not just on language, but on action — to deal with serious global issues, such as global financial crises,» said Michael Froman, president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. «Looking ahead, the focus should be on that, not on the statement per se,» said Froman, a former U.S.

Desert Technologies (DT) an independent solar PV and smart infrastructure holding company and Essar Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop renewable energy solutions for Essar Group’s Green Steel Arabia (GSA) project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as well as potential future projects. The MOU was executed between Desert Technologies and Essar Group in the G20 summit on Monday. The companies said, through this partnership, they will develop solutions for renewable energy generation and storage for Essar’s Flat Steel Complex in the KSA which is the first green steel project in the GCC region and will also explore opportunities for other potential projects. “Desert Technologies's MOU with Essar signifies our long-term commitment to meet the growing demand for renewable energy solutions; especially in the KSA. Its solutions in the renewable energy sector, price competitiveness and low Carbon footprint solutions will further boost the growing low CO2 emission steel industry," said Chief Executive Officer of DT Investments, Khaled Sharbatly. Based in Saudi Arabia, and operating in more than 25 countries, Desert Technologies has a proven track record as a PV developer, investor, EPC and O&M contractor, PV solar panel manufacturer, and energy storage systems integrator. Essar is currently looking at investing about $4.5 billion in setting up an integrated steel plant in Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia.

– By Nirav Choksi