International Financial News

India's current account deficit narrows to 1% of GDP in July-Sept On Friday the National Statistical Office will release the first advance GDP estimates. The advance estimates of GDP, which go under six revisions over time, will be released in the evening on 5 January.

BEIJING — BYD has overtaken Tesla again by the sheer number of new energy vehicles produced in 2023, thanks in part to the Chinese automaker's hybrids and wide range of offerings in a lower price range.

India plans to set up its own protection and indemnity (P&l) entity called India Club for providing third-party maritime insurance to Indian ships operating in the country’s coastal regions and inland waterways, a top government official said. Coverage for shipping in international waters may come at a later point. Such an entity would provide insurance cover for unforeseen situations such as damage caused to cargo during carriage, damages from war, and from environmental risks.

On the positive side, India’s aggressive push for renewable power has resulted in renewable electricity costs becoming competitive with grid power, although India still has to make round-the-clock (RTC) power competitive. A differential market approach—with high paying customers such as industry and the commercial sector being targeted as beneficiaries of RTC power—can help move the needle quicker, giving a further boost to renewable power. The residential and agricultural sectors can possibly help deal with the intermittency of renewable power better through well-designed demand-response programmes, leading to more efficient consumption and a possible push for stand-alone renewable power.

Quadria Capital, the Asia healthcare-focused private equity fund, is in advanced talks to acquire a significant minority stake in India's largest dialysis chain NephroPlus, valuing the latter at ₹2,000 crore ($250 million), said two sources aware of the development. Existing investors — the US-based Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) — will exit fully by selling about 30% stake together, while the largest shareholder Investcorp is likely to sell a small stake in this round, said sources. Investcorp owns about 35-40% stake in NephroPlus.

Stifel analysts downgraded shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) to Hold from Buy and Papa John's (NASDAQ:PZZA) to Sell from Hold in a note to clients Thursday. The firm maintained a price target of $135 for YUM and $65 per share for PZZA.

A study shows that carbon dioxide emissions in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, dropped to their lowest level in seven decades

potential to become the world’s largest gems and jewellery exporter, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said at the inaugural event of the five-day India International Jewellery Show on Thursday. The country can be a proficient lab-grown diamond maker, impeccable design centre and technologically advanced machinery manufacturer, he said. “It’s time we embark on the journey to realise our true potential and show our prowess to the world,” said Goyal. The five-day exposition comprises about 1,500 exhibitors and 3,000 stalls. The largest jewellery trade show in the country kicked off against the backdrop of a consistent surge in gold prices in the domestic market and a sluggish exports market. Sharing his outlook on the market, Vipul Shah, chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council said gold prices are set to skyrocket further due to a combination of factors, the most important being the “de-dollarisation trend” which is prompting people across the world to invest in gold as an asset class. Geopolitical factors will also contribute to the prices going up further, he said. Meanwhile, exports which fell 20-22% year-on-year in the first nine months of this financial year, are likely to end the fiscal with almost a 25% decline year-on-year, said Shah. Goyal said massive investments are being made to create a world-class infrastructure, including the 20-acre India Jewellery Park in Navi Mumbai and a common facility centre in SEEPZ Mumbai with modern machinery and equipment.

Bitcoin becoming a reserve currency is an interesting topic of discussion. While it is currently not widely used in everyday transactions to the same extent as traditional currencies, there are potential scenarios in which Bitcoin could become a reserve currency in the future.

It is planned that Gary Gensler, the Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), would meet with Lee Bok-hyun, the Chief of South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). This meeting is expected to be of critical importance. As reported by Chosunbiz on December 18, this conference, which is scheduled to take place in January, is a proactive approach to examining the dynamics of the cryptocurrency market as well as prospective supervisory measures.

The Bank of China has marked a significant milestone in the realm of digital currency with the completion of the world's first cross-border Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)-powered precious metals deal. On December 20, 2023, the Bank of China's Shanghai branch successfully conducted a 100 million yuan ($14 million) e-CNY CBDC settlement received overseas for gold via the Shanghai Financial Exchange International Board. This historic transaction underlines the growing acceptance and utility of digital currencies in international trade, especially in the precious metals sector.

Following a lengthy investigation phase, in October the ECB moved onto the preparation phase of the digital euro, although no final decision on a roll out has yet been made. The central bank has now issued calls for applications to establish framework agreements for the alias lookup component; the fraud and risk management component; the app and SDK components; the offline services component; and the secure exchange of payment information component. The ECB will invite the highest ranked respondents to submit offers in a subsequent Invitation to Tender. In total, the five agreements could be worth around EUR1.1 billion to vendors and would run for four years from early 2025.

Sebi on Thursday said Govindayapalli Ram Mohan Rao has taken charge as an executive director and will handle the departments of investigation and internal inspection. Earlier, Rao was the regional director of the eastern regional office of Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India).

toy manufacturing in the country through import duties and quality control orders. Addressing journalists in New Delhi, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Rajesh Kumar Singh said the proposal of having a PLI scheme on toys has been put on hold and a third-party audit of the white goods PLI will be conducted. Responding to a query on the decision to put the toy PLI proposal on hold, he said, “Currently we are focused on getting these 14 PLI schemes up and running in a good way.

Investing.com — Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) has posted first-quarter income that topped analysts expectations thanks to strong demand at its pharmacy business and international segments.

consumer goods maker Dabur said in a third quarter update on Thursday that it expects consolidated revenue to register mid to high single-digit growth, a slight improvement over the July-September quarter. The maker of Real juice, Hommade condiments and chyawanprash noted in a filing to the stock exchanges that its foods and beverages segment would lead growth in the quarter, usually the best performer in the October-December quarter due to the festive season and its juices portfolio. Dabur said the third quarter has been better than expectations, also driven by its acquired Badshah masala franchise and its international business. The company, which derives almost half of its annual sales from rural India, however, noted that demand in the hinterland continues to be a concern for the company. Rural demand has continued to lag behind urban demand, though the gap has reduced in the last quarter.

Cornish-Bowden is currently a non-executive director of Finsbury Growth & Income and CC Japan Income & Growth trusts as well, the latter of which she chairs the audit committee for.

students, including Indians, starting courses at British universities this month will no longer be able to bring family members on all but postgraduate research courses and courses with government-funded scholarships under tougher UK visa norms effective from Monday. The UK Home Office said the changes, first announced by former home secretary Suella Braverman in May last year, are aimed at clamping down on people using the student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK and will see an estimated 140,000 fewer people come to the UK.

Fyllo said it is in talks to partner corporates such as Coromandel International and Dhanuka Agritech among others to widen their reach through a large set of farmers with their strong channel and forces on the ground. The company said revenues tripled this year driven by new products such as Nero and building channel partners to boost sales. It expects sales to grow four times in 2024. «We have a strong product market fit with 100% customer retention.

The growth rate of international traffic at Indian airports has surpassed that of domestic air traffic, as Indians increasingly opt for foreign trips on the back of improved connectivity and relaxed visa norms. A low base effect and more flights available for international travel have also contributed to this trend. As per data from the Airports Authority of India, international passenger traffic handled at Indian airports this fiscal year (April to November) jumped 25.3% year-on-year (y-o-y).

AFP on 30 December. Earlier the former world number three, Dominic Thiem, was defeated by Nadal in the 2018 and 2019 French Open finals. Thiem, the Austrian professional tennis player, has also struggled with injury and fell to 352 in the world in 2022 following a right wrist tear.