Country Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.TOKYO—One of the major surprises about the gravest energy shock since the 1970s is how resilient much of the world has been so far.The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has yanked around 13 million barrels of oil a day from global energy supplies. Blackouts have hit Pakistan, the Philippines has imposed a four-day workweek, and countries including Slovenia and Bangladesh have rationed fuel.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump said Sunday the U.S. would start guiding commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz where they have been trapped by the war between the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted not just oil and gas supplies, but caused a global fertilizer shock as well. Of the world’s traded fertilizers, more than 40% of urea and 20-30% of potassic and phosphatic fertilizers—as well as 45% of the sulphur that goes into fertilizer manufacture—are shipped from Gulf countries via that vital waterway.The blocked region also accounted for a fifth of all traded liquefied natural gas (LNG), some of which was feedstock for urea, before traffic through the strait came to halt. A shortage of all these products threatens food production and signals higher food prices globally, with hunger a distinct likelihood in countries that rely on imports for nutrition.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Chennai: To say the Kerala government’s finances are in a mess is an understatement. The state has a litany of woes which successive governments have failed to take head on. Its ability to raise revenue is impaired.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s power prices on electricity exchange hit zero for the first time on Friday, 1 May, raising concerns for investors and developers as the country moves towards its target 500 giga watt (GW) non-fossil capacity by 2030.Data from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) showed power prices were at zero in two blocks of 15 minutes each on Friday, as demand dipped due to easing temperatures and low industrial demand but power supply — especially solar power — climbed, bringing prices down.The dip in demand came from partly cloudy skies, light rains, and gusty winds in northern India and Delhi-NCR, and heavy rainfall in parts of eastern India. Similar weather was witnessed on Saturday, 2 May.To be sure, power prices on the real time market (RTM) platform of the IEX had dropped to near-zero twice earlier—on the afternoon of 5 April, and on 25 May last year, under similar circumstances.In a LinkedIn post on on Friday, IEX said: “Cooler weather, record solar generation (~57.5 GW), and inflexible thermal supply are leading to ample sell-side availability on the Exchange.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: Nestlé India flagged potential price increases if input costs remain elevated, even as it continues to prioritize volume-led growth.“We did see some commodity inflation like milk and wheat… The fuel part is a curveball,” chairman and managing director Manish Tiwary told Mint.“Of course, if it persists, while we do want more volume-led growth, we might have to make some price adjustments,” he added.Nestlé India, the maker of KitKat and Maggi, has leaned on volumes to drive growth, but Tiwary acknowledged that pricing could return to the mix depending on how commodity costs evolve. “So, from almost a complete volume-led growth, we could have some pricing (-led growth), depending on how the commodity and prices move,” he said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At 11.40 am on Saturday, millions of phones across India blared a loud alert simultaneously, interrupting calls and conversations. The disruption was deliberate. It was a nationwide test of a multilingual cell broadcast system developed by the state-owned Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) for emergency warnings during disasters.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When the 1973 oil crisis struck, it dramatically changed the way that economies used fossil fuels such as petroleum. Economies are still fossil-fuel dependent, but much less than about 50 years ago. The West Asia war could prove another turning point in the story of dependence on fossil fuels.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mahesh Narayanan’s Patriot begins with a curious disclaimer: “This film is not against digitalization of India”. For any piece of popular entertainment in India today, it helps to be as vanilla and nonconfrontational as possible, and at least in southern India few things are more popular than a Malayalam film starring Mammootty and Mohanlal, and directed by Mahesh Narayanan.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Around two decades after exiting India, UK cosmetics brand Lush has re-entered the market, looking to tap into the country’s growing luxury beauty segment.The maker of bath bombs, shower jellies and solid shampoo bars has partnered with Bengaluru-based Bilberry Brands under a licensing agreement, beginning with an online launch and a physical store in Delhi. A second Delhi outlet, along with stores in Gurugram and Mumbai, is expected to open soon. It plans to open seven stores by the end of 2026.In a video interview, Lush co-founder Rowena Bird discusses the brand’s return to India.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When France opens their World Cup campaign on 17 June against Senegal at the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, they will do so as one of the firm favourites to lift the greatest prize in the game. Winners in 2018 and finalists in 2022, France will arrive on US soil brimming, as usual, with some of the finest players on the global stage right now.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: The Centre is exploring partnerships with real estate-focused global investors to form real estate investment trusts (Reits) that will house optic fibre networks and land assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), multiple people with knowledge of the matter said. The assets under consideration could also be repurposed for data centre infrastructure, potentially widening investor appeal.The plan, still at an early stage, is part of a broader push to accelerate government asset monetization following the Union budget for 2026-27, which proposed using Reit structures to recycle state-owned assets and attract institutional capital.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s pilots have urged the aviation regulator to fully enforce flight duty time limitations (FDTL), warning that relaxations could compromise safety and crew wellbeing. In a 1 May letter, reviewed by Mint, the pilots' association cited recent pilot deaths and flagged rising fatigue risks, seeking a time-bound roadmap to end selective exemptions that, it said, have diluted the intent of the rules.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Last year was a major step forward in the clean energy revolution, with installations of renewable sources such as solar panels and wind turbines hitting record highs not only in the developed world, but in emerging economies too. But then came the war in Iran, a global curve ball that’s bound to change our collective future in unpredictable ways.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump says he is weighing whether to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Germany. If he goes ahead, it would reshape the military presence that has allowed America to project power in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.Trump’s remarks came amid a spat with German Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who told a group of students that the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The top private and state-owned defence companies are looking at a ₹15 trillion revenue opportunity over the next five fiscal years, according to brokerage Dam Capital on 27 April, as rising government capital expenditure and an export push combine to reshape the country's arms sector into a global supplier.The windfall is being spread across five big firms, Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, and Larsen & Toubro's Precision Engineering & Systems division, with exports projected to be over ₹72,000 crore for the period, according to industry projections and company disclosures. Defence exports already hit ₹38,424 crore in FY26, as per defence ministry data, and the government has set a target of ₹50,000 crore by FY29 at a compounded annual growth rate of 9%.The exports are being driven by two key points: increasing localized production of light to heavy artillery, and the latter leading to exports of India-made defence equipment to regions such as West Asia, central and south-east Asia, and Africa as well.This is a change for the country.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Last month, France did something that would have been unimaginable a few years ago; certainly before the outbreak of the Ukraine war, when US-led sanctions cut Russia off from the Swift payment system, the main messaging network that enables secure international financial transactions, and froze more than $300 billion of its assets. Its central bank, the Bank of France, pulled out its remaining gold reserves held in New York. Admittedly, no central bank today relies on gold to back its currency.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It has been almost two decades since the late Shinzo Abe [former prime minister of Japan] stood in India’s parliament and told the assembled legislators that “it is incumbent upon us two democracies, Japan and India, to carry out the pursuit of freedom and prosperity in the region.” Abe defined their task as protecting freedom of navigation in what he was perhaps the first to call the Indo-Pacific. That task has gotten only more urgent as America withdraws—or, more recently, imposes blockades on crucial straits—and China pushes harder against the first island chain.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tencent-backed audio platform Pocket FM has revived plans to raise fresh capital, targeting $100 million-$120 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion-$2 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter. This marks a second attempt by Pocket FM, which had explored fundraising about nine months ago but failed to close the round amid investor concerns over backing a loss-making business.Mint had earlier reported that Goldman Sachs was advising on the previous mandate.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s stock market is back near levels last seen almost two decades ago, with the market cap-to-GDP ratio, or the Buffett Indicator, at 137.70% in 2025—its highest since 146.52% in 2007, according to Mint’s analysis of Bloomberg data.While a high ratio can signal ‘expensive’ valuations in a textbook sense, several market participants say, this time, it may point to a different narrative.Even as India’s market cap-to-GDP ratio hovers near its 2007-08 bull run peak, the backdrop today is markedly different.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The expiration of electric vehicle (EV) subsidies in four key states, which together fueled over a third of India's EV sales in FY26, is creating a new hurdle for carmakers. These state-level incentives were critical in making EVs price-competitive with traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, according to a review of state policies and an industry executive aware of the matter.Worryingly for EV makers, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have also introduced fresh taxes on EVs in the past month, which experts believe could further dampen sales momentum in these markets.The developments follow a blockbuster year for the industry, with EV sales surging 84% in FY26 to nearly 200,000 units, according to data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).Some of the country's largest electric car markets, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu, have seen their purchase subsidies for consumers end, which is expected to raise overall cost of such vehicles.