Economy Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.FOR DECADES Americans have fretted that China might dump its vast holdings of Treasuries, undermining the dollar. Global investors therefore snapped to attention when Bloomberg, a news agency, reported on February 9th that China’s regulators have warned commercial banks against holding too many American government bonds. Some banks have been told to cut their exposure.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kevin Warsh spent the past year constructing a case for the Federal Reserve to deliver the interest-rate cuts President Trump wants: An artificial-intelligence boom would soon deliver a productivity surge that would hold down prices.When Warsh appears Tuesday in front of senators for the confirmation hearing that could put him one step closer to leading the central bank, his toughest audience could be his future colleagues. They have been delicately but unmistakably signaling their pointed skepticism.If confirmed, he stands to inherit a Fed caught between a technological shift that has yet to hold prices down and a fracturing geopolitical landscape that keeps threatening to push prices up.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For centuries, Santhal and Gond tribes in central and eastern India have called the mahua tree the ‘tree of life’ as an ode to its versatility: from a nutrient-dense edible flower to local arrack to cooking oils made from seeds, it’s sturdy wood is used in carpentry and nearly every part of the tree is used in traditional medicine.Add the latest end-use of madhuca longifolia, the scientific name for the mahua tree: turn its bitter-sweet flowers into fine chocolates and granola for the discerning and well-paying urban consumer.Meet Rishabh Lohia, a young social entrepreneur from Ranchi in Jharkhand, giving mahua the contemporary makeover. A former student of economics who found inspiration in Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s writings, Lohia left his family’s real estate business in 2024 to launch Wild Harvest, a packaged food brand specializing in mahua products.For Lohia and his partner Ashali Bhandari, building Wild Harvest is akin to creating a new category in the ever-expanding fast-moving consumer goods basket.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A week is a long time in geopolitics. Consider the Hormuz flip in the theatre of economic warfare. Last Monday, after peace talks failed, America sought to choke Iran’s economy with an armed blockade of Iranian ports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The US has extended by 30 days its waiver from sanctions for Russian oil purchases. Just days ago, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent had ruled that out. This flip-flop is a relief.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—The United Arab Emirates has opened talks with the U.S. about obtaining a financial backstop in case the Iran war plunges the oil-rich Persian Gulf state into a deeper crisis, U.S. officials said.U.A.E.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Consensus earnings estimates for the fourth quarter of FY26 point to double digit growth, albeit at a lower level than the previous quarter due to the impact of the West Asia war and a high base effect, says Satish Ramanathan, chief investment officer-equity at JM Financial Asset Management Company in an interview. Leading companies may emerge better given superior pricing power.Asked whether it is time for foreign portfolio investors to return to Indian equity markets, Ramanathan reply was: “…we believe Indian equity markets are now reasonable as regards valuations and are poised to benefit from a diversified economy and domestic market.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Air India has said it will complete the retrofit of its legacy aircraft by 2029, nearly two years later than originally planned, after supply-chain constraints slowed its fleet overhaul plans. The final phase of the programme will cover 19 wide-body jets starting in the second half 2027 and is expected to take up to two years to complete, a senior executive said on Sunday.“There are some 777 Boeing aircraft which will be sent for retrofit in the second half of 2027 and these will be ready in the next 18 to 24 months… so by 2029.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Earlier this year, the government issued a much-awaited update to the methods by which it measures national income and gross domestic product (GDP).According to the government, key reforms to the way GDP is calculated “include revising the base years of GDP and price indices, strengthening the measurement of the informal and services sectors, improving labour market statistics, adopting advanced survey methods and technology, and enhancing transparency…”Based on the new methodology, India’s GDP grew 7.2%, 7.1% and 7.6% in real (inflation-adjusted) terms in FY24, FY25, and FY26, respectively, compared to the 9.2%, 6.5% and 7.4% growth rates last estimated using the old methodology. In absolute terms, GDP is now lower than previously pegged: at current prices (not adjusted for inflation), India added ₹345.47 trillion in economic output in 2025-26, not ₹357.14 trillion as believed using the old technique.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Economists often talk of ‘inflationary expectations’ and one may be left wondering what these mean. In essence, the argument goes that present inflation is not relevant as this has already been witnessed. What is important is future inflation, which is why expectations of price levels matter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Digital insure-tech firm Acko has let go of about 60 employees, roughly 5% of its workforce, as it undergoes a structural realignment with a greater focus on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its operations, multiple people familiar with the matter said. Affected employees are expected to remain with the company until the end of June, the people added.The job cuts come alongside the departure of chief marketing officer Ashish Mishra, who spent nearly five-and-a-half years at Acko after joining in August 2020.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Srinagar: A prized forest delicacy among the world’s most expensive mushrooms is collapsing in the wild even as scientists in Kashmir say they may have found a way to cultivate it.Gucchi, or morel mushroom, has seen output fall sharply across Jammu and Kashmir—from around 2,000 quintals in 1991 to just 88 quintals in 2018—as erratic snowfall, shifting rainfall patterns and forest degradation disrupt the fragile ecological conditions it depends on.It is primarily found in the foothills and forested belts across districts including Poonch, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Anantnag, Bandipora, Kupwara and Pulwama.In Kashmir’s higher forests, collectors describe damp pine floors layered with decaying needles and logs—exactly the moisture-rich microhabitat where the mushroom once emerged reliably in spring. That seasonal rhythm, they say, has become increasingly erratic.At the same time, global competition is intensifying, with countries such as China advancing morel cultivation techniques and putting additional pressure on prices.Now, researchers at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K) say they have successfully standardized cultivation of Gucchi under controlled greenhouse and open-field conditions, a breakthrough in a species long considered nearly impossible to farm.“This is a game-changing breakthrough,” said SKUAST-K vice chancellor Nazir Ahmad Ganai.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.China’s economy got off to a solid start in 2026, with its GDP growing 5% in the first quarter, according to official data released on Thursday. This exceeded the expectations of economists and struck the top-end of the 4.5-5% growth aim set by Beijing for the full year. Driving the expansion were China’s robust exports for the quarter, although its March shipments faced severe headwinds.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Only a few years ago, AI seemed like merely a nice toy: a chatbot that simulated intelligence by assembling complete sentences in response to users’ prompts but that ultimately wasn’t much more sophisticated than an advanced search engine. Yet now, it has proven to be an incredible tool that can perform tasks I never thought would be possible in my lifetime. For example, I have used AI to locate online datasets, manipulate them, carry out statistical tests and produce polished tables and charts, complete with sensible commentary on what the results mean, how they relate to academic literature and the strengths and weaknesses of the analysis.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India has three good reasons to engage with one of the biggest open questions in economics today: the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs.First, the country has the world’s largest youth population. Second, its growth model has been dominated by software services, and AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude Opus are getting exceedingly good at writing code and finding bugs. But the third and possibly the most crucial point is this threat to entry-level positions comes amid an alarming oversupply of college graduates.The wage bump that graduates enjoy over school-leavers is shrinking and AI could further narrow the gap.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BE GRATEFUL FOR small mercies. The ceasefire between America and Iran holds. Talks that began in Islamabad last weekend may soon resume.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Iranian leaders have portrayed the current cease-fire as a victory against an overwhelming U.S. and Israeli onslaught.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest projections for the global economy are broadly along expected lines, but its view on India springs a surprise. The multilateral lender now sees India’s growth exceeding what it had forecast before the outbreak of war in West Asia. At 6.5%, India’s projected GDP growth for 2026-27 is 0.1 percentage point higher than published in the January World Economic Outlook of the IMF and 0.3 percentage point higher than its October view.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With a parched monsoon forecast and a fertilizer supply chain disrupted by conflict in West Asia, Indian agriculture is caught between two raging storms. The India Meteorological Department has predicted a below-normal monsoon, while national fertilizer stocks sit at less than half of what’s required for the upcoming Kharif season.As El Niño threatens to dry up the fields and imported urea becomes harder to secure, the resilience of India's food production and the stability of rural demand are facing their toughest test in years.Mint explores whether these twin challenges will spark a spike in food prices or significantly dent farmers’ incomes.The four-month monsoon spanning June-September is critical for two reasons: India receives about 70% of its annual rainfall during these months, and nearly 45% of the country's farmland lacks irrigation, leaving it solely dependent on these rains.The India Meteorological Department has forecast the monsoon to be below normal at 92% of the long-period (50-year) average.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When India enacted its four new Labour Codes, consolidating over 40 central labour laws, the promise was straightforward: simplify compliance, make labour markets more flexible and attract investment. These are worthy goals. But for the Codes to deliver on that promise, they should be accompanied by a reform that has been conspicuously absent from the conversation: a properly designed, state-sponsored unemployment insurance system.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A downward revision in nominal gross domestic product (GDP) following the base-year revision and a sharp depreciation of the rupee have proved to be a setback for India's position in global ranking.The country has slipped to the sixth rank in 2025 (FY26) and 2026 (FY27), falling behind the UK after claiming the fifth position for three straight years, showed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest data.At current prices, India’s GDP is estimated to be $3.92 trillion in 2025 (FY26) and $4.15 trillion in 2026 (FY27). The UK’s GDP is expected to be $4 trillion in 2025 and $4.26 trillion in 2026, respectively.