International Financial News

gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974. Jeevan Thondaman told The Indian Express that Sri Lanka “has not received any communication from India" regarding its claim on the Katchatheevu island and if it does, the foreign ministry will reply to it. "As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, Katchatheevu island falls within the Sri Lankan line of control….So far, there has not been an official communication from India to return the powers of Katchatheevu island….If there is such a communication, the foreign ministry will reply to that," Jeevan Thondaman was quoted as saying.

Amit Shah on Monday recalled the “blunder" committed in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, while praising PM Narendra Modi for correcting it during his tenure. Amit Shah said Jawaharlal Nehru made an error when he implemented Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, which was abrogated by PM Modi who also raised an Indian flag in the Union Territory.

Toronto is considering implementing a new way to charge homeowners and businesses for water usage, known as the "stormwater charge," although it's already being dubbed by some as a "rain tax" due to its focus on stormwater runoff. The concept originated back in 2021 during Mayor John Tory's tenure, with earlier proposals dating back to at least 2017. The city has released a video outlining the details of the proposed new tax. Here are the key points: Current Water Payment System Presently, Torontonians pay for water usage based on consumption. Homeowners and businesses are charged $4.51 per cubic metre for the first 5,000 cubic metres (known as the domestic rate) and $3.16 thereafter (the industrial rate).

BENGALURU : Non-banking finance company Namdev Finvest Private Ltd (Namdev) on Tuesday said it has raised $20 million in an equity round in its pre-series-C funding. The investment round was led by Maj Invest Financial Inclusion Fund III K/S who has put in $16 million, with participation from Promoters Group & Employees who have put in about $3 million. Founded in 2013 by Jitendra Tanwar, Namdev provides financial solutions to underserved populations in rural areas and has a presence across seven north-western Indian states.

Émile Soleil, a 2-year-old boy who went missing nearly nine months ago from his grandparents’ home in a remote hamlet in the French Alps, have been found.Soleil’s disappearance in July last year shocked France and captured international attention. The toddler seemingly vanished into thin air as his family was getting ready to leave the house for an outing, the mayor of Le Vernet said at the time.A massive air and land search took place involving hundreds of police, soldiers, rescue workers and volunteers scouring hectares of the mountainous terrain around Le Vernet.

The general take on India’s rapid economic growth is that it’s powered by the government’s capex push. But a recent report questions this narrative, saying it underestimates the role of consumption. Mint unpacks the investment versus consumption debate.

Mumbai: Lauding the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its astute management of the country’s financial system at an event on Monday to mark the central bank’s 90th anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out a roadmap for the next 10 years, saying India would need to become economically self-reliant to shield itself from external shocks. Making the rupee more internationally accepted, increasing the reach of banking services and scaling up digital transactions would be key focus areas, Modi said.

Baltimore last week is «healthy», according to a nonprofit organisation that has been in touch with the personnel. The 2.6km-long, four-lane bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, came crashing down after Dali, a 984-foot cargo ship bound for Sri Lanka, collided against it in the early hours of March 26. The 21 crew members of Dali, of which 20 are Indians, are still onboard the crippled cargo ship nearly a week after the collision.

₹421 crore for the project. In a recent filing with the stock exchange, the hospitality major announced that its Board has granted approval for the development of an Oberoi Luxury Resort, slated to occupy a 52-acre site at Cavelossim Beach in South Goa. Also read: FY25 Outlook: Hotels to see revenue growth of 9-11%, a 3rd straight Year of growth- CareEdge According to project specifications, the luxury resort will feature 90 rooms and suites, targeting both domestic and international travelers, the company disclosed to the exchanges.

NEW DELHI : India's travel and tourism sector is seeing robust growth, propelled by an increasing appetite for frequent and shorter trips, said Laura Houldsworth, Asia Pacific managing director for Booking.com. In a recent interview with Mint, shesaid this surge is not only fueled by expanding spiritual and wedding tourism but also by a strong outbound travel market. "We're expecting Indians to want to travel more frequently and take a lot of shorter trips as well, unlike the one to two trips we saw in the past," Houldsworth said.

Tomorrow's IPL Match: Royal Challenger Bengaluru (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will clash at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 2. This will be RCB’s fourth match in IPL 2024 while LSG will play their third match.

Katchatheevu island issue, opposition leaders on Monday cited a 2015 RTI reply, which stated that the agreements in 1974 and 1976 did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India, and asked whether the «change» in Modi government's stance was for «election politics». The opposition's response came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday claimed that prime ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu island and gave away Indian fishermen's rights despite legal views to the contrary. Jaishankar's remarks at a press conference were made a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress «callously» gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at the government over the issue.

₹7,531 crore in assets under management (AUM), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100 index. Another large passive fund, the Motilal Oswal S&P 500 Index Fund, also remains open for fresh investments. It tracks the broader S&P 500 rather than the Nasdaq 100, which is dominated by US technology stocks.

Katchatheevu island was neither acquired nor ceded and lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line. The 2015 response by MEA assumes significance considering the ongoing political flash point over RTI reply received by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai said that former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi had ceded the Island to Sri Lanka.

₹30.5- ₹32.0 across the four metros. The reduction in prices comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections which are scheduled to start on 19 April. In the national capital, the 19-kg commercial cooking gas cylinder is priced at ₹1,764.50, lower by ₹30.5.

Biden told him to bring down the visa times in India, adding that it was the first instance that an ambassador was told to look into something like this in any country. Garcetti underscored that a part of the green card backlog issue is a legislative problem and said that it is what Congress will have to address. However, he highlighted that the number of visas that have been adjudicated has brought down the waiting time by 75 per cent.

The Port of Virginia, with terminals at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay near Norfolk, is opening a gate Monday at 5 a.m. — an hour earlier than usual — to help accommodate more truckers. The Port of New York and New Jersey, which is expecting additional cargo including autos, is working to allow quick access for transport companies that usually go through Baltimore. A major railroad is expanding its services, too. Fallout from last week’s deadly bridge collapse, which indefinitely closed the nation’s 17th-largest port by total cargo tonnage and the busiest gateway for vehicles, is expected to be largely contained as neighboring facilities with spare capacity tweak their schedules. Snarls, delays and added costs are more likely to appear outside ports as tens of thousands of shipments require longer routes on already-crowded roadways and rail lines.

Gold rate today: On account of the fresh escalation of the geopolitical tension in central Asia and the dovish US Fed on interest rates, gold price today climbed to a new lifetime high of $2,259 per ounce in the international market. Spot gold price today opened flat at around $2,233 per ounce level but soon gathered upside momentum and touched an intraday high of $2,259 level, which turned out a new record high for the yellow metal. Asked about the reasons that are fueling gold prices across the world, Anuj Gupta, Head of Commodity & Currency at HDFC Securities said, “Gold prices are escalating due to rise in the geopolitical tension in the Middle East and US Fed rate cut buzz." Anuj Gupta said that the gold price has given a breakout above the $2,250 level in the intraday session.

Avenue Supermarts on March 31 and has ceased to be Chairman and Independent Director of the company. Damani has been replaced by former Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Chandrashekhar Bhave, informed Avenue Supermarts, the DMart retail chain operator.

Brij Hotels plans to have 50 operational boutique hotels in the next five years before considering international expansion, said its co-founder Udit Kumar. The Delhi-based company, which recently secured $4 million (about Rs 33 crore ) in series A funding, currently operates eight properties and aims to add three–four properties in 2024-25. The company plans to seek another round of funding within a year, Kumar told ET.

Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is a jarring visual: Chunks of steel jut above the water like metallic icebergs. Twisted gray beams protrude in crooked positions. From a park near Fort McHenry, visitors can see the giant cargo ship that struck the bridge and remains lodged in the wreckage. Less visible, however, are the 22 crew members from India who have remained on the ship, named the Dali, since the disaster Tuesday.