Country Financial News

Could there be a fresh twist in Ford’s tryst with India? A buzz has risen after reports surfaced of the US-based carmaker’s decision to cancel the planned sale of its Chennai facility to the JSW group that was in an advanced stage of talks. One may be inclined to think this is on account of negotiations breaking down.

By Maximilian Heath

SEOUL (Reuters) — South Korea's commercial banks will provide 2 trillion won ($1.53 billion) to support small businesses, the organisation representing the lenders said on Thursday, amid political and regulatory pressure to share more of their profits with society.

France has submitted its response to India's tender for buying 26 Rafale Marine jets for the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers — INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. The response to India's Letter of Acceptance has been submitted by France in New Delhi, defence sources told ANI. A team of French government officials dealing with military sales to foreign countries has flown over from Paris to submit the response to Indian tender, they said. The Indian side will carry out a detailed study of the French bid for the Indian deal including the commercial offer or price for the aircraft, along with other details of the contract, they said. India will now negotiate the deal with French government officials, as it is a government-to-government contract. The Navy Chief has directed the officials to ensure that the timeframe required for the project is squeezed significantly to ensure early finalisation and induction of the planes in the inventory. More than a month ago, India delivered the Letter of Request to the French government.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned his US counterpart Joe Biden that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided, NBC News reported. NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC.

Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant visited an Israeli Navy «Sa'ar 6» class Missile Ship sailing in the Gulf of Eilat on Wednesday. He also met with the Navy commanders and soldiers operating in the vicinity of the city of Eilat. Gallant was briefed on operational and intelligence activities as well as the Navy's preparations in the face of aerial and naval threats in the Red Sea, such as the attacks by Houthi terrorists based in Yemen.

JN.1 subvariant of COVID-19, India is on high alert. This new variant, part of the Omicron family, has spurred a focused response from health authorities as 21 cases have been reported across the country. The World Health Organization has labeled JN.1 as a «variant of interest,» prompting a closer examination of its impact. The JN.1 variant, a descendant of the BA.2.86 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, is distinct from the Omicron XBB lineages.

Voice clones or deepfakes have emerged as the latest tool for cyber scammers, they said, as artificial intelligence (AI)-related scams are being increasingly reported from different parts of the country.

The head of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service plans to meet with SEC Chair Gary Gensler to discuss crypto regulation.

Even though it is devoid of any high-flying tech stocks like Apple or Google, the NYSE ARCA Securities Broker/Dealer index, with the ticker symbol .XBD, has managed this year to keep pace with the broad S&P 500 stock index.

Canada’s record population growth in the third quarter brings its housing crisis into the spotlight once again, with economists urging governments to boost spending to accommodate all the new arrivals.

The Black Book", a revenge thriller directed by Editi Effiong in his directorial debut, achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the first-ever Nigerian film to reach the number 3 on the streaming giant's global film charts. Produced with a budget of $1 million, a substantial amount by Nigerian movie standards, the film garnered an impressive 5.6 million views within just 48 hours of its release on September 22. In the opening weeks, «The Black Book» attracted over 20 million viewers, securing a place in Netflix's Top 10 list in more than 69 countries.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog), the network of laboratories set up to monitor genomic variations of the coronavirus, has so far found 21 cases of infection with the JN.1 subvariant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared as a «variant of interest». Twenty of the cases with the JN.1 strain were found in Goa and one in Kerala, where it was detected first in the country on December 8.

warehousing sector and is looking to invest over ₹1,200 crore over the next two years to build its portfolio across the country. The firm is looking to build total warehousing assets spread over around 4 million sq ft during this period, said a top official of the company. The institutional investment manager is in talks with developers in key metro cities of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Chennai, Bengaluru as well as select non-metro cities to undertake these warehousing projects. «With the robust infrastructure and various government policy initiatives showing economic green shoots across the country, the warehousing and logistics sector presents significant potential for institutional investors.

Joe Biden said Wednesday that Donald Trump had clearly backed an insurrection after Colorado's top court blocked the Republican from seeking a second term over the 2021 Capitol assault. "I'll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection.

NEW DELHI : The year that’s drawing to a close saw many more young Indians flying abroad than before, a trend that Madhavan Menon, executive chairman, Thomas Cook India, expects to continue in the years ahead. In an interview, Menon spoke about visa-free travel, hotel rates and emerging trends. Edited excerpts: There is enough and more written about 2023, and it has been a great year, despite challenges of higher airfare, travel and hotel costs.

NEW DELHI : The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has amended the Income Tax rules to liberalize the 'safe harbour' norms that allow multinational companies to avoid rigorous audit of their cross-border transactions by following certain requirements. The changes introduced through the Income-tax (Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Rules, 2023 will be effective from 1 April 2024, showed an official order. Cross-border transactions of MNCs among their group entities are an area tax authorities keep a close watch on due to the potential of these transactions for artificial shifting of profits from one jurisdiction to another.

allocation in the Union budget is insufficient for India's aspirations to be a global leader, a parliamentary panel has observed, recommending that the budget should be doubled over the coming years. In a report on the functioning of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the parliamentary standing committee on defence has said that the current allocation of 5.38% of the budget for research needs to be increased to 8-10%. «Drawing a comparative analysis of the budgetary spending on R&D in India with that of developed countries, the committee takes note that with the current percentage of funding, our country can only aspire to become atmanirbhar and protect ourselves. However, to have aspirations to become a global leader, this percentage will not be sufficient,» the committee has noted. It has also expressed reservations about the existing state of affairs regarding the utilisation of funds for R&D activities in DRDO, without dwelling into details.

logistics services provider Delhivery has operationalised its largest gateway in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra one of the biggest logistics hubs in the country, housing warehouses of Amazon, Flipkart, and Samsung. The new terminal consolidates Delhivery's existing operations in Bhiwandi and includes an automated hub, sortation, freight handling, and ecommerce returns operations. In the logistics industry, a gateway is the central point at which freight moving from one region to another is interchanged between transport vehicles heading into different directions.

cargo across all transportation modes-land, rail, sea and air-through a single app. More than 700 companies have signed up on the app to be launched soon by the government. «A track and trace app is being developed wherein we will be able to track the movement of trucks, trains and air couriers.

World Bank Group has set up a task force to study recommendations of the Independent Expert Group (IEG) on reform of multilateral development banks, set up under India's G20 presidency. This was conveyed by World Bank president Ajay Banga to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.