Country Financial News

A flood of Chinese products into Indonesia has hit local manufacturers hard, prompting the government to look for ways to placate domestic producers while avoiding angering the country's biggest trading partner

South Korean banks are refusing to follow the nation’s crypto exchanges into a “deposit rate war” as platforms scramble for market dominance.

Vijay will officially reveal the flag and symbol of his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Thursday in Chennai as the star actor is looking to contest in the state elections scheduled in 2026. Preparations are underway at the headquarters secretariat in Chennai for the launch of the TVK flag and symbol. In a press statement released on Wednesday in Tamil, the actor said, «It is a great blessing if every day is a new direction and a new force in history. 22nd August 2024 is the day that God and nature have given us as such a blessing. It is the day when the flag, the main symbol of our Tamil Nadu Victory Club, will be introduced.»

Google and Australia's national science agency said they will work together to develop software that automatically detects and fixes network vulnerabilities for operators of critical infrastructure, seeking to contend with a surge in cyberattacks. The software for organisations such as hospitals, defence bodies and energy suppliers will be customised to be in line with Australia's regulatory environment. «Software supply chain vulnerabilities are a global issue, and Australia has led the way in legislative measures to control and combat the risks,» said Stefan Avgoustakis, head of security practice for Google Cloud in Australia and New Zealand.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Wednesday that it would launch an investigation into subsidies given by the European Union and EU member countries for dairy products that could lead to tariffs on their export to China. The announcement came one day after the EU released a draft decision to finalise tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, in a follow-up to provisional tariffs announced last month. The tariffs have been denounced by the Chinese government and automakers and threaten to set back the industry's efforts to go global.

Reserve Bank of India allowed foreign currency cards on RuPay. In FY24, there were 968 million transactions via RuPay cards, lower than 1.26 billion in FY23. The quantum of transactions remained unchanged at ₹2.4 trillion across both years.

New Delhi: The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) is considering issuing and renewing licences only to those pharmaceutical firms that can prove they follow good manufacturing practices. The move—the first such—assumes significance given the growing size of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, currently at $65 billion, and the crisis of confidence faced by it. Good Manufacturing Practices, or GMP, prescribed in Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, set the standards for pharma companies on the quality of raw materials, methods, machines, processes, personnel, facility and environment, among other things.

Goyal on Wednesday alleged that Amazon's proposed $1-billion investment in India is to compensate for its huge loss that «smells of predatory pricing,» and of no great service to the economy. He also questioned the impact of ecommerce on crores of small retailers. «Are we going to cause huge social disruption with this massive growth of ecommerce?» «I don't see it as a matter of pride. It's a matter of concern,» Goyal said.

Toronto-Dominion Bank is taking a provision of US$2.6 billion for fines it expects to pay for failures in its money-laundering controls, and has sold part of its stake in Charles Schwab Corp. to fund it.

Most financial planners recommend that you delay claiming public pension benefits to maximize your monthly payments, but a new report says lowering the early eligibility age can help one group in particular: workers with lower incomes.

stock markets have already taken an affinity towards Kamala Harris as soon as she entered the Presidential poll race after replacing Joe Biden on the ticket. According to Market Watch, the chances of Harris winning the polls are 64% based on the stock market trends that were earlier behaving in a rather non-predictable manner. The stock market's shift towards Harris is a positive sign as it means that the investors are backing the Democrats and counting on them for the country's economy in the future. Although, this may have little impact on the polls, but the majority share of these investors are voters, and therefore some data extrapolation and analysis can help in understanding the current political landscape, ahead of the US Presidential Elections 2024.

inter-ministerial panel has cleared five-six investment proposals in the electronics manufacturing sector, which include some pure-play Chinese companies and others with connections to the neighbouring country, people familiar with the matter said. The development is significant as these are among the first such approvals in recent times given border tensions and the scrutiny that investments from China have been attracting in India. Prominent names that have recently got approval include Chinese electronics major Luxshare, which is also a vendor for Apple, and a joint venture (JV) between Bhagwati Products (Micromax) and Huaqin Technology, in which the Chinese company will own a minority stake. Other proposals cleared include some Taiwan-based firms listed in Hong Kong or having investments from there.

Comerica Wealth Management CIO John Lynch on the expected 2024 job revisions, his expectations for Federal Reserve Chairman Powell's Jackson Hole speech, where to allocate capital, and Target earnings.

Businesses across a variety of industries are bracing for freight trains to stop moving Thursday at both major Canadian freight railroads if they can't resolve a contract dispute

Security Force (CISF) are being deployed at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital following an order of the Supreme Court, official sources said on Wednesday. A day after the apex court's order, the Union home ministry wrote to the West Bengal chief secretary seeking deployment of the CISF at the state-run hospital. Subsequently, a decision has been taken for the deployment of the CISF, the sources said. Earlier in the morning, a CISF team, led by a DIG-rank officer, surveyed the hospital complex where a 31-year-old trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered earlier this month.

Public Sector Banks may have the largest network base in the country but their ability to garner deposits is much lesser than their private peers. HDFC Bank, the largest Indian private sector lender raced miles ahead in garnering deposits even though its branch presence remained a third of the largest Indian lender State Bank of India. State Bank of India recorded the largest deposit base at Rs 49.01 lakh crore at the end of the June 2024 quarter. It added Rs 3.70 lakh crore of deposits in one year, with the June 2023 deposit base at Rs 45.31 lakh crore. SBI has garnered these deposits with a mammoth branch network of 22,580. Private sector lender HDFC Bank was the top performer among banks in bagging deposits, it added a whopping Rs 4.66 lakh crore in one year. Its deposit base stood at Rs 23.79 lakh crore at the end of June 24 quarter versus Rs 19.13 lakh crore in the year ago period. What is noteworthy is that these deposits have been accumulated with a branch network of 8851, almost a third of SBI's network.

Piyush Goyal on Wednesday questioned Amazon's announcement of USD 1 billion investment in India, saying the US retailer was not doing any great service to the Indian economy but filling up for the losses it had suffered in the country. He said that their huge losses in India «smells of predatory pricing», which is not good for the country as it impacts crores of small retailers. Launching a report on 'Net Impact of e-commerce on Employment and Consumer Welfare in India' here, the minister lambasted the e-commerce companies, questioning their business model that has been impacting small retailers in the country. «When Amazon says that we are going to invest a billion dollars in India and we all celebrate, and we forget the underlying story that the billion dollars are not coming in for great service or any great investment to support the Indian economy. They made a billion-dollar loss in their balance sheet that year, they had to fill in that loss.

The leaders of India and Malaysia say they will seek to expand economic ties and strengthen cooperation on defense and security

Approvals for new coal-fired power plants have dropped sharply in China after a flurry of permits in the previous two years raised concern about the government’s commitment to limiting climate change

By Howard Levitt and Madelena Viksne

Canadian tax practitioners awoke from their summertime slumber on Aug. 12 to a mountain of new draft tax legislation to review, a voluminous package of material containing complex technical amendments to implement many new tax proposals.