Country Financial News

Investing.com-- The People’s Bank of China kept its benchmark loan prime rate unchanged near record lows on Monday, as it continued to skirt the balance between fostering an economic recovery and preventing more weakness in the yuan. 

(Reuters) -Australia's second-largest telco Optus' Chief Executive Officer Kelly Bayer (OTC:BAYRY) Rosmarin has resigned, its parent Singapore Telecommunications said on Monday, days after a network-wide outage left nearly half the country without phone or internet for 12 hours.

biofortified seeds for pulses, wheat, mustard and millets as well as fruits and vegetables to up the nutrient content to a desired level, a move aimed at ensuring nutrition and food security, a senior government official told ET on the condition of anonymity. According to the official, the effort is also to improve India's ranking on the Global Hunger Index where the low ranking for India is not because of low availability of food but for the low nutritional value of the existing crops that results in malnutrition in India's newborn children and females. «The nutrition content of most of our mass consumption crops is sub optimal.

India offers to facilitate local manufacturing of electric vehicles will be equal for foreign as well as domestic investors, government officials said, amid concerns raised by automakers in India over possible concessions in import duty to American carmaker Tesla. Senior government officials in the know told ET that Tesla has sought provisional tariff concessions as a prerequisite for setting up a manufacturing facility in India, but New Delhi is not in favour of any company-specific exemptions. «The government's approach is for the industry as a whole and not for any specific company because we have very strong domestic companies in this sector,» said an official, adding that any incentives offered will be equal for domestic and foreign investors. The government is in the process of drawing up a policy to incentivise local manufacturing of electric cars, at a time when US EV maker Tesla and its relatively lesser-known Vietnamese rival VinFast are firming up their India entry strategy. While policy guidelines are yet to be finalised, local carmakers said offering concessional tariffs to Tesla will adversely impact investments that have already been made or are being made by them to produce electric vehicles.

Coal requirement for power generation in the second half of this financial year has increased to 424 million tonnes compared with 404 million tonnes projected earlier amid higher demand, said people with knowledge of the matter. Additionally, 18 million tonnes will be required to maintain a desirable closing stock of 40 million tonnes by March-end, they said. Power generation from coal-based plants is now projected at 657 billion units for the second half of 2023-24 against 619 billion units expected earlier, said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified. While the gross demand of coal for the period is 442 million tonnes, 24 million tonnes is expected to come through imports, said the person. For the movement of total coal to plants, 463 rakes per day are required, which include 20 for the imported ones.

NEW DELHI : India’s music lovers are flocking to paid subscriptions, after moving from free and pirated music to advertising-led platforms years ago. The change bodes well for audio streaming companies, who had come to rely on advertising for long.

₹76,000 crore as a financial assistance scheme to attract semiconductor fabrication and packaging units to come up in the country. The first investment under the scheme has been done by US-based Micron Technology, which has begun setting up its ATMP unit in Sanand, Gujarat.

Mint that the regulator would soon roll out new rules to allow for multiple natural gas operators to compete in various markets, especially those where infrastructure and marketing exclusivity for single companies is ending. “However, it will be ensured that existing companies do not face any impact, such as new companies taking away attractive locations (with greater demand and footfalls), and that the new companies are ready to cater to remote and underserved areas," Jain said, adding that the market would be opened up through an open and fair process.

EDINBURG (TEXAS) : Donald Trump returned to the US-Mexico border for a visit Sunday as he promotes a hard-line immigration agenda that would be far more expansive than the policies he pursued during his first term as president. Before making remarks in Edinburg, Texas, Trump served meals to Texas National Guard soldiers, troopers and others who will be stationed at the border over Thanksgiving. He was joined by Republican Gov.

MUMBAI : To strengthen its foothold in Japan’s gaming market, Indian digital entertainment and technology firm JetSynthesys has entered into a strategic tie-up with Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Digital Hearts Holdings (DHH). As part of a comprehensive deal aimed at mutual growth and global expansion, DHH will invest an undisclosed sum in JetSynthesys Japan, besides establishing a 50:50 joint venture in India. The venture will capitalize on the strengths of both entities, with DHH contributing expertise in quality assurance, customer support, and marketing, while JetSynthesys draws on its technology prowess and digital entertainment capabilities.

NEW DELHI : Domestic pump prices of petrol and diesel have remained unchanged since May 2022, the longest freeze in India. With the Centre netting buoyant tax revenue and global crude prices benign, can consumers hope for a cut in the run-up to the elections next year? Mint explains. They have oscillated wildly following multiple geopolitical crises.

CAIRO — Egypt's stock market witnessed a day of historic gains with the benchmark EGX30 index reaching nearly 24,900 points, marking a significant milestone. This surge reflects a 2.12% increase from the previous session, underscoring the bullish sentiment prevailing in the market.

India along its eastern neighbourhood, China's state-owned petroleum company has acquired control of several petrol pump and diesel stations in close proximity to the Myanmar-India border in recent times. PetroChina has so far acquired 119 retail fuel stations in Myanmar and may acquire another 53, sources indicated. Over 50 of these fuel stations were earlier owned by a Singapore-based firm. Most of the pumps acquired by PetroChina are in proximity to the India-Myanmar border or along the Trilateral Asia Highway, ET has learnt. Ever since Myanmar faced western sanctions after the coup, China has come to its rescue, including in the oil and gas sector.

Cybersecurity is among the top three important segments for companies in the Indian financial services industry but there is a gap in the industry needs and the availability of skills. Companies in general are looking for experienced professionals but this being a nascent segment, Indian universities have not been producing as many skilled professionals as the industry needs. «The Indian curriculum is more focused on AI, ML, and other data science courses but not cybersecurity,» said Abhik Chatterjee at Boston Consulting Group, which advises top banks in the country.

Rohit Sharma, fielding in the circle, could have been the loneliest man in the world at that moment. He smiled wryly, but this was no more than hiding a broken heart from the rest of the world.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an appeal to all Muslim-majority countries on November 19, asking them to snap political ties with the Zionist state. "Islamic governments should at least cut off political ties to Israel for a limited time," Khamenei said on November 19, while attending a military exhibition in Tehran.

SEATTLE, WA : In May, Sam Altman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Microsoft-backed OpenAI who was fired on Friday, had stirred a hornet’s nest, commenting on India’s attempt to develop a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool like ChatGPT, terming it “hopeless", while responding to a question by Rajan Anandan, the managing director of Peak XV Partners, and a former head of Google India. Altman later clarified that his response was “…really taken out of context! (and that the)...question was about competing with us with $10 million (as opposed to $100 million), which I do think is not going to work..." That said, India does not have a semiconductor fab to build chips required to power a large language model (LLM) or LLM-powered chatbot.

MUMBAI : The Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) stock has zoomed 77% so far in 2023. The government’s capex thrust has come as a shot in the arm for capital goods stocks lately. But in the case of BHEL, a robust order inflow outlook mainly for its thermal power segment, is fuelling optimism among investors.

By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke

Shinde on Sunday used a music analogy to describe the current state of politics as «besur sur» (not in tune). Shinde, who heads a coalition government comprising Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), performed bhoomi pujan of Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar Sangeet Vidyalaya in his home turf Thane and also inaugurated various civic projects. «The world had witnessed a Lata Mangeshkar era wherein she mesmerised the people with her rich repertoire of songs,» he said.

Myanmar soldiers, who had fled to Mizoram's Champhai district, after their camp at Tuibual in Chin state was captured by the civilian armed forces was repatriated on Sunday. Officials said that two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters on Sunday airlifted the 29 Myanmar soldiers from Mizoram's Champhai to Manipur’s Moreh town and they were handed over to Myanmar’s military authority. “After completing necessary formalities including biometric process, the Indian authorities handed over all the 29 soldiers to Myanmar Army officers at Tamu (opposite to Moreh border) in the neighbouring country.