Country Financial News

Greek authorities have closed down the Acropolis for much of the afternoon for a second day as the country swelters under unseasonably high temperatures

National Bank of Canada’s deal to acquire a smaller rival in western Canada makes strategic sense, analysts said, but the transaction may take years to deliver on its promised benefits for shareholders.

Reserve Bank's nod to operate as an online payment aggregator via its payment gateway brand AuroPay. The authorisation from the apex bank enables the company to operate as an online payment aggregator to provide digital payments services to merchants across the country. «Aurionpro Payment Solutions Private Limited, a subsidiary of Aurionpro...has received final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as an Online Payment aggregator under the Payments Settlements Act, 2007, through its payments brand AuroPay,» a company statement said.

India will remain the region's fastest-growing economy, sustaining last year’s domestically driven momentum and its policy momentum is expected to continue as the new government takes charge with a reduced majority, according to ratings firm Moody’s. “We anticipate policy continuity after the general election, and a continued focus on infrastructure development and encouragement of private sector investment” the ratings firm said in a report. In the first half of calendar year 2024, Indonesia, Philippines and India led the way and should continue to outperform pre-COVID growth numbers on the back of rising exports, local demand and government spending lift.

Jayant Chaudhary, minister of skills development and entrepreneurship (independent charge), on Thursday, called for increased collaboration with the industry partners to enhance the scope and effectiveness of apprenticeship and vocational training programmes in India besides . During a comprehensive review of the skilling schemes with the top ministry officials, Chuadhary reiterated on providing quality skill training to the youth, across the country, with a special focus on marginalized communities, backward areas, and new-age market relevant skills, the ministry of skills development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) said in a statement. Elaborating on the necessity of a unified effort to ensure the successful implementation and expansion of skill development initiatives across the nation, Chaudhary said that focus should be on close collaboration and convergence with other ministries and states to bring scale and speed to the skill ecosystem.

The heads of the Group of 7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — started their annual summit Thursday at a luxury hotel in Puglia on the southern Italian coast, overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip and the threats posed by China's economic rise are high on the agenda.

United States and European countries have agreed to lock up sanctioned Russian assets until Moscow pays reparations for its invasion of Ukraine, a senior US official said on Thursday. The move clears the way for leaders to announce a USD 50 billion loan package for Kyiv at the Group of Seven summit, where President Joe Biden is set to sign a security agreement with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The highly anticipated agreement will leverage interest and income from the more than USD 260 billion in frozen Russian assets, largely held in Europe, to secure a USD 50 billion loan from the US and additional loans from other partners. The first disbursements will be made this year, but it will take time for Ukraine to use all the money, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the agreement, which will be included in the G7 leaders' communique on Friday.

FISME) has urged the government to review NPA classification rules, third-party rating of MSMEs and Quality Control Orders (QCO). The key body representing MSMEs has also sought the government’s intervention in protecting export-oriented MSMEs and tweaking trade policies to reflect the growing contribution of Asia to global GDP. Classifying loan accounts as special mention account (SMA) if interest or principal is due for 30 days stifles the MSME's growth.

Flexible workspace provider WeWork India on Thursday opened its first Chennai co-working space in Olympia Cyberspace in Guindy, making this the 55th building for the company in the country. The facility spans over 130,000 sq. ft. and has 2,000 seats available across two floors. It has also already signed on members like Wheelocity Fresh, Molex India, Dr. Wamser + Batra India and H2O LLC.

El Salvador, built to hold members of the country's most violent gangs. Known as the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism, this huge facility in Tecoluca can hold about 40,000 prisoners, similar to fitting two full Madison Square Gardens, as per the reports of 'New York Post'. The El Salvadoran government posted photographs of numerous severely tattooed, shirtless prisoners being transferred to the maximum-security jail. These prisoners are continuously in fear of being tortured or killed while being held in small, artificially lit cells. No inmate who has ever been admitted has ever been freed.

Italy to attend an Outreach session at the G7 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said its focus would be on artificial intelligence, energy, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Modi said this in a departure statement before leaving for the European nation in his first foreign trip after becoming prime minister for a third term. The prime minister said issues crucial for the Global South will also be deliberated upon at the Outreach session. The G7 summit, to be held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy's Apulia region from June 13 to 15, is expected to be dominated by the raging war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.

By Allan Lanthier

Gullak without also speaking of Wagle Ki Duniya. Based on RK Laxman’s beloved ‘Common Man,’ the 1980 show directed by Kundan Shah starred Anjan Srivastava and Bharti Achrekar and painted a vivid picture of the average middle-class family as it stood 40 years ago. The ongoing SonyLiv show Gullak — created and directed by Shreyansh Pandey — is a worthy descendant, a slice-of-life series showing us that no matter how far the country may and may not have come in the last four decades, the great Indian middle-class grapples with the very same contradictions and insecurities.

Congress on Thursday again demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the NEET exam issue, and asserted that the anger in the country over the matter will «reverberate inside Parliament as well». The opposition party also sought the removal of the National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General and claimed that the BJP government's attitude towards the ongoing demand for an inquiry into the NEET examination is «irresponsible and insensitive». Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that in the last 10 years, the Modi government has ruined the future of crores of youth through paper leaks and rigging. «Grace Marks was not the only problem in NEET exam. There has been rigging, papers have been leaked, corruption has taken place. The future of 24 lakh students appearing in the NEET examination is at stake due to the actions of the Modi government,» the Congress president said.

A recent survey found that 93% of global freelancers want to incorporate crypto and stablecoins into their income streams.

Union Budget 2024-25 has commenced after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman directed the officials to initiate the process, emphasizing the need for meticulous planning and comprehensive analysis. The Union Budget is likely to be tabled in Parliament by the third week of July. Sitharaman who had retained Finance Ministry will be presenting her sixth budget by mid-July. After taking charge, the Finance Minister announced that the Modi govt intends to move on the reforms path to boost macroeconomic stability and growth. The Budget will also incorporate elements of the 100-day plan that PM Narendra Modi had asked his team of officers to prepare. The idea is to use the inputs and then set the agenda for the next 12 months as also for 2030 and 2047, when govt expects India to be a developed country.

industrial growth and the emergence of one of the fastest growing real estate segments in the country, India’s warehousing sector is set to cross the 300 million sq ft mark by 2025 from the current stock of 216 million sq ft, according to a CREDAI-CRE Matrix joint report. During the March quarter, India witnessed a 5% increase in warehousing rentals with the absorption to supply-ratio at 1.4 times. Pune and NCR’s contribution to the pan India Grade A/A+ warehousing demand was 45%, while Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and NCR jointly had a demand touching 53% in the segment. MMR alone recorded a 52% on-year increase in supply during the quarter.

Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms and Luxembourg-based SES to provide gigabit fibre internet has won approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites there, a government executive said. The three approvals issued to Orbit Connect India — which aims to provide satellite-based high-speed internet access — come as companies from Amazon.com to Elon Musk's Starlink have been vying for the go-ahead to launch satellite communication services in the world's most populous nation. The authorisations have not been previously reported. They were granted in April and June from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, known as IN-SPACe. These allow Orbit Connect to operate satellites above India, but further approvals are needed by the country's department of telecoms to begin operations.

«This is potentially on cards and this could be the potential driver for some of the stocks in this year. Adani has pumped in 20,000 crore into Ambuja and it is very difficult to put in greenfield projects,» says Rakesh Arora, Founder, Go India Stocks. There are three things we will discuss. One is the consolidation in the sector, which has happened two-three years ago, is that real? How will smaller cement companies exist and coexist? And after three-four years of perhaps flat performance by cement stocks, are we in for a good time for cement stocks? So, three things. What do you want to start with? Cement industry, I mean, obviously, demand is working for them. There has been no doubts about demand picking up in India given all the infrastructure boom, etc. And it is always the cycles of supply which really matters. Demand has never been questioned. And this is where there is a little bit of an issue because you have two top players gunning for market share and they are trying to increase capacity quite significantly.

Mint in an interview. “We have launched one product, particularly for background verification. The first few clients have been on the financial services side, the next set of clients would be on the commerce side, where conversations are happening." In a recent report, investors at venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, which has invested in Perfios, highlighted the increasing adoption of cloud-based SaaS platforms by banks and non-bank lenders for various use cases, including fraud detection, wealth management, customer engagement, and KYC, among others.

Mondelez has partnered Belgian biscuit maker Lotus Bakeries to make, sell and market the latter's flagship brand Biscoff in India.