Fitch Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Interest rate margins may remain under pressure in the first half of the current financial year, as lenders continue raising funds at high costs to match soaring loan growth. In the March quarter, margins for most banks, especially the mid-sized lenders, were flat to slightly lower.Margins compress when banks cut loan rates in line with benchmarks, but continue paying deposit interest at assured rates until they mature.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Japan was a global bright spot in 2025. Despite much hand-wringing over its debt burden, it is likely to remain so in 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : Global fashion and personal-care brands are scrambling to enter India, attracted by rising affluence and evolving consumer aspirations in the world’s fastest-growing major economy, even as demand cools in other key markets. Large international clothing labels such as COS, Bershka, Next, and G-Star Raw, and cosmetics brand Lush have entered the Indian market over the past year.

Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said the new tariffs, announced on what is labelled as “Liberation Day” by the US administration, go far beyond what it had previously expected and are already altering the global economic outlook. The tariff regime now imposes a minimum rate of 10% on all US trade partners, with significantly higher levies on 57 selected countries. As a result, the effective tariff rate (ETR) for EU imports into the US has jumped to about 20%, while the rate on Chinese goods has surged to 64%. These figures compare with Fitch’s earlier March assumptions of 15% for the EU and 35% for China. Other Asian economies have also been hit hard. Vietnam now faces a 46% tariff, Thailand 36%, Taiwan 32%, India 26%, South Korea 25%, Malaysia 24% and Japan 24%. Sector-specific exclusions—such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, copper and lumber—may be negotiated separately. Also Read: Recession, not Liberation Day! India, US and world GDP may slump for Trump tariff 'insanity' «We estimate the changes will raise the overall US ETR to about 25%, which would be significantly higher than the 18% we had assumed for 2025 in the March GEO and the highest rate for more than 115 years,» Fitch said.

Emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Vietnam, which impose tariff on American imports higher than what the US levies on them, face a high risk of reciprocal tariffs, global ratings agency Fitch said. “Brazil, India, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey and, on a simple average tariff basis, Vietnam and Indonesia, impose notably higher tariffs on exports from the US relative to tariffs imposed by the US on imports from these countries,” it said. US President Donald Trump has threatened with his reciprocal tariffs announcement on April 2 against trading partners he says have been “ripping off” the country by imposing high levies. As per the Fitch report, the tariffs in these economies were higher, both on a simple and trade-weighted average basis. “On a simple average basis, the highest differentials are in Brazil, India and Turkey,” Fitch said.

Donald Trump has publicly proclaimed that the United States ‘doesn’t need anything’ Canada has, but Americans can’t seem to get enough of this “export.”

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SYDNEY : Fitch Ratings has added its name to a slew of prominent forecasters downgrading the outlook for world economic growth and push up its expectations for U.S. inflation, highlighting rising concerns about the erratic nature of U.S.

US economy, a new pattern is surfacing among Americans as they are falling behind on car payments at a record pace, as per a report. This could be a warning sign similar to the 2008 financial crisis, reported Daily Mail.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: State-owned Bank of India is looking to go beyond its comfort zone of lending to companies with the highest credit ratings to shore up its margins, which is already under pressure and could sink further following the Reserve Bank’s rate cut. Chief executive Rajneesh Karnatak said in an interview withMint that the bank is looking for companies rated ‘BBB’ or ‘A’ to lend to, as those rated ‘AA’ or above have more bargaining power on lending rates.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The consumer spending boom is fading, and that could spell trouble for the global economy. The latest retail sales report missed the mark on Monday.

U.S. investors shrugged off worries about an intensifying trade war and bought US$3.5 billion worth of bonds from the Canadian government at typical valuations on Tuesday.

Fitch Ratings has removed energy infrastructure company Adani Energy Solutions (AESL) from its 'Ratings Watch Negative' list and assigned a Negative Outlook, it said in a statement on Monday. The agency cited concerns over ongoing US investigations that could reveal governance weaknesses and affect financial stability. The agency warned that the outcome of the probe could impact the company's credit profile. It had affirmed the long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at 'BBB-'. «The risks associated with the group's liquidity and funding requirements have moderated,» Fitch said in a statement, adding that the proceedings and outcome of the US investigations could reveal that the group's corporate governance practices are weaker than it expected, potentially leading to negative rating action in the near to medium term.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: A month in as the new chief of Indian Bank and Binod Kumar is looking to flip the state-run lender’s playbook albeit at a cautious but steady pace.

AI chipmakers like Nvidia, according to Fitch Ratings.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Fitch Ratings has rated India as “BBB-" with a stable outlook. This means India’s credit quality is good and the chances of a default are low; however, adverse business or economic condition can impair this quality.

Vedanta Resources Ltd's (VRL) long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating following a «significant reduction» in the company's refinancing risks. The rating agency upgraded VRL's senior unsecured rating to 'B+' from 'B-' and also changed the outlook to stable, according to a statement. Besides, it has upgraded «the ratings on the USD 300 million June 2028 bonds and USD 500 million December 2031 bonds, issued by VRL's subsidiary Vedanta Resources Finance II Plc (VRF2), and unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by VRL, to 'B+' from 'B-' with Recovery Rating of 'RR4',» the statement said.

Fitch Ratings on Monday said India's steady GDP growth outlook, improved banking sector's financial health and expected interest-rate cuts in 2025 will support credit access for corporates in FY26. The credit metrics of rated Indian corporates is expected to improve in the next financial year (April 2025-March 2026) driven by wider EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) margins, despite high capex intensity.

At least three Indian companies plan to raise more than $1 billion combined by selling dollar bonds to international investors this week, people aware of the details said.

The world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles says it will get into battery swapping in China in a big way starting next year

Home shoppers hoping for more attractive mortgage rates next year may be disappointed

Fitch credit rating agency on Friday affirmed Ukraine's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating at 'RD' (restricted default) as its war with Russia drags past the 33-month mark. The agency also affirmed the sovereign's 'CCC+' long-term local currency amid the ongoing debt restructuring, aimed at easing its wartime financial pressures. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in late November, signed into law Ukraine's widely contested wartime tax increases, raising the war tax for residents to 5% from 1.5%.