Country Financial News

White House said on Monday that Vietnam Airlines' deal to buy 50 737 Max jets from U.S. planemaker Boeing is worth $7.8 billion. The statement confirms the deal value that Reuters had reported on Sunday, citing a source.

Scotland is set to introduce pilot schemes that will let select civil servants to transition to a four-day workweek. The pilot programs are slated for various government departments and agencies and are aimed at exploring the feasibility and benefits of a reduced workweek. This initiative, outlined in the 2023-24 Programme for Government (PfG), details the government's plans for the upcoming year and aims to evaluate the potential benefits of reduced working hours. The pilot program's main objective, as stated in the document, is to assess the well-being, environmental impact, and productivity gains that could be achieved through the adoption of a four-day workweek in the public sector. The pilot is expected to run for approximately one year and may involve arm's-length bodies rather than ministerial departments. Certain government enterprise agencies, responsible for fostering economic development in Scottish regions, have expressed interest in participating in the trial. The United Kingdom conducted its largest-ever trial of the four-day workweek just last year. Nearly 3,000 employees across 61 organizations embraced a shorter workweek for six months. The majority of employers opted to retain the four-day workweek model when the experiment concluded. They attributed this decision to increased revenues, reduced staff turnover, and mitigated worker burnout as the key drivers of their choice.

Indian Railway Finance Corporation’s market capitalization cross the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the first time ever since the company went public in 2021. Shares of the company were locked in the 10% upper circuit on Monday at Rs 84.80 on the National Stock Exchange. At the lifetime high of Rs 84.80, the stock more than trebled in value from its issue price of Rs 26. Year-to-date, the stock has risen a whopping 158%. The government’s increasing focus on boosting infrastructure spending in the country has played a major role in lifting railway and rail-related stocks on Dalal Street. In the Union Budget for 2023-24 (April-March), the government announced an outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore for Indian Railways, which is the highest capital outlay for railways and is 9x over FY14 allocation. The ongoing G20 Summit was nothing less than a shot in the arm as the government announced a shipping and rail transportation corridor linking countries across the Middle East, South Asia and Europe on the sidelines of the Summit in New Delhi over the weekend. The announcement of a new corridor will lead to a comprehensive rail and shipping connectivity network linking US, India, Saudi Arabia and Gulf and Arab states, and European Union. The plan aims to integrate railway routes and port linkages, spanning from India to Europe, traversing through the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. Not only IRFC, but all other rail-related stocks danced on Dalal Street on the back of this news. Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam rallied more than 9% while Titagarh Wagons rose 5%.

Narendra Modi on Monday said that the India-Saudi Arabia partnership is crucial for the stability, and welfare of the region and world. PM Modi at the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council meeting said, “We are adding a new dimension to our ties in tune with changing times.

Ircon International share price surged 19.3% to touch a 52-week high of ₹159.25 apiece, Rail Vikas Nigam share price jumped 17.6% to hit a 52-week high of ₹191.40 apiece, and Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC)share price rose 10% to touch a 52-week high of ₹84.76 apiece on BSE. According to to Rajesh Bhosale - Equity Technical and Derivative Analyst, Angel One, these railways stocks have seen strong traction in the September month as Ircon International stock is up by 38% , Rail Vikas Nigam is up by 41% and IRFC stock is up by 68%, respectively. The momentum is strongly in favours of bulls but post a strong move in just 10 day, the indicators are in overbought.

reality. India, as chair of the G20, has sensibly pressed for finding ways to enhance international tax transparency in real estate. The outcome is the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) outlining a robust framework to track tax evaders using real estate deals to hide their undeclared incomes.

Indian Foreign Service officers played pivotal roles in India's successful bid to secure a consensus at the recent G20 Leaders Summit. As per a TOI report, these officers, working closely with India's G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant, were instrumental in navigating the challenging negotiations that spanned over 200 hours, involving 300 bilateral meetings and 15 draft revisions. Announcing the achievement on the microblogging site X, Amitabh Kant shared his appreciation for the tireless efforts of these diplomats.

China could land themselves in trouble with the government for their fashion choices. Flared pants and bluejeans were considered «weird attire.» Some government buildings barred men with long hair and women wearing makeup and jewelry. Patrols organized by factories and schools cut flared pants and long hair with scissors. It was the early days of China's era of reform and opening up.

WhatsApp is reportedly working on bringing «third-party chat» support on Android in order to comply with the new European Union (EU) regulations. The new feature will offer users the ability to communicate with each other using different apps, according to WABetaInfo.

On Monday, Bitcoin price experienced a minor decline of 0.50%, trading at $25,742. This shift in value comes amidst India's contemplation of regulating the cryptocurrency sector in alignment with the IMF-FSB guidelines. 

India, Delhi and Riyadh have explored the possibility of offering artist residencies and holding joint training programmes in cultural domains such as film, culinary arts, and visual arts. The two sides have also discussed mechanisms for preserving intangible cultural heritage and historical sites. These programmes will introduce Indians to Saudi culture and vice versa and will foster mutual understanding and collaboration in various fields, Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud told ET’s Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury in an exclusive interview.Q: The Ministry of Culture’s recent participation in the 4th G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting highlighted the importance of cultural cooperation among nations. In what ways has the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed to the G20 Cultural Track?A: The Kingdom’s contributions to the G20 Cultural Track stem from our belief that culture is fundamental to the human experience, as it both expresses and shapes our humanity.

Shishir Joshipura, MD & CEO, Praj Industries, says “this initiative will create a pathway for us, a very-very constructive dialogue with several countries where it is possible for those countries to emulate what India did and actually benefit from that because biofuels have multifaceted benefits for the society. From the social angle, it creates jobs in rural areas, from the economic angle obviously it creates a lot of wealth in the country and for an energy importing country, it makes immense sense to produce your own energy.”The prime minister in the G20 Summit launched the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) and also invited all the other countries to join this particular initiative. How are you reading into this development?This is one of the most important developments that has taken place in recent times, inviting a global forum for biofuel alliance.

real estate assets through the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) has infused higher transparency in transaction and management structures of these assets and realtors are now aiming to develop investment grade assets with single ownership structure. The developers have started appreciating that retail is a specialized asset class that constantly requires upgradation of tenant mix and the property with focus on parameters such as zoning and mall management to ensure monetization of the asset. Indian retail-led real estate is expected to witness a supply of over 38 million sq ft between the second half of 2023 and 2027. Of the existing retail real estate stock across the top seven cities of India, around 44 million sq ft of retail assets offer a potential to be listed as a REIT and of these, more than half are in Mumbai and NCR-Delhi region, showed data from JLL India. “India’s retail sector is on an elevated growth curve where the focus is on creating an innovative built environment, greater connections with the consumers, and curating physical storefronts in untapped regions of the country including tier II and III cities,” said Rahul Arora, Head of Office Leasing Advisory and Retail Services, India, JLL. Following the success of three office properties-led REITs, India’s public markets saw the launch of the first retail assets-led REIT, Nexus Select Trust, earlier this year.

Narendra Modi on Monday held wide-ranging talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, focussing on shoring up bilateral trade and defence ties. Bin Salman is currently on a State visit to India following end of the G20 Summit. Ahead of the talks, the Crown Prince was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. «I am very glad to be here in India.

Ralph Lauren took over a different New York city borough — Brooklyn — with a sumptuous event that marked his return to NY Fashion Week after four years and brought out stars like Jennifer Lopez, Julianne Moore, Diane Keaton, Mindy Kaling, Gabrielle Union, James Marsden and many others. After crossing the country last year to stage a lavish show at the grand Huntington Library in San Marino, California, Lauren returned to his home base of New York with Friday's show in a cavernous warehouse space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, transformed into a reimagined artist's loft. He decorated the space with rustic wood and draped canvases, and added glittering chandeliers above. None other than Christy Turlington closed out the runway show of Lauren's Spring 2024 women's collection, the 53-year-old supermodel looking regal in a one-shouldered gown in shiny gold.

The Hindustan Times, this development coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing India's deep apprehensions regarding the ongoing anti-India activities involving extremist factions in Canada to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the same day. The voting occurred at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, the very gurdwara that was previously led by Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the prominent figure of SFJ in the province.

Dhiraj Bommadevara showed some spark when he shocked two-time Olympic team gold medallist Kim Woojin 6-2 but lost his next two matches to return empty-handed as India ended their campaign with a solitary silver medal in the 'Archery World Cup Final'. Compound archer Prathamesh Jawakar won the country's lone medal despite India fielding their biggest-ever contingent of five archers in the World Cup's season-ending grand finale. Rising Indian recurve archer Dhiraj began his campaign on a rousing note when he rallied from 0-2 to pull off an upset 28-29, 30-28, 30-28, 29-26 win over the World No.

G20 Summit is all people could think about as the two-day event concluded on Sunday. Taking to social media, several Bollywood celebrities and business leaders have been heaping praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his leadership for conducting the successful G20 Leaders' Summit at the state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam Convention Centre in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. From the film fraternity, megastar Amitabh Bachchan was beaming with pride at the G2 success. «India's pride! India a quantum leap into the forefront of the world,» he wrote in his tweet. Lauding the success of the G20 Summit, actress Kangana Ranaut — who never misses a chance to praise PM Modi for his exceptional work — said that «Bharat» took its first step as a world leader. «Bharat as the world leader is leading us into a glorious future,» she tweeted.

Tony Fernandes said on Monday. Capital A (formerly known as AirAsia Group) sold its Indian airline subsidiary to Tata Group last year. «We are working with the Tata Group and hope to do a lot of work with the conglomerate,» he said on the sidelines of the 21st Forbes Global CEO Conference. Last year, Tata Group-owned Air India signed agreements to acquire a 100 per cent stake in AirAsia India and has commenced the process of merging with Air India Express to form a single Indian low-cost carrier.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been arrested in connection with a Rs 371 crore corruption case, casting a shadow over the political landscape of the state just months before crucial elections. This move comes as a blow to Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), as several other prominent leaders from the party are also implicated in the alleged scam, which revolves around the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation, established during Naidu's tenure. The investigation, led by the Crime Investigation Department (CID), has raised questions about the involvement of Naidu's son and TDP general secretary, Nara Lokesh, in the case, further intensifying the scrutiny surrounding the former Chief Minister's family. The alleged misappropriation of funds intended for the upskilling of unemployed youth in Andhra Pradesh has created a significant stir in the political arena.

nasscom foundation is one such organisation working towards creating an environment that supports entrepreneurial aspirations which are crucial for economic growth and social development. The foundation’s Women Entrepreneurship Program (WEP) is designed to enable women entrepreneurs — particularly those involved in agriculture, artistry and running micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in rural areas — access technology and digital skills for their business growth, says Nidhi Bhasin, CEO, nasscom foundation. In 2022, the foundation impacted over 6.4 lakh lives through 15 skilling projects, offering courses in foundational, emerging and advanced technologies. In an interaction with ET digital, Bhasin explains how the foundation is creating access to technology at the grassroots level via the (government’s) Aspirational Districts Programme.