International Financial News

International Year of Millets (IYM), is over, can we ask how effective it was? The Indian government put in major effort, from the topmost level, into promoting millets as healthy, sustainable crops. There were policy initiatives, extensive publicity, and everyone from corporates to state governments to self-help groups enthusiastically promoting millets. Measured purely by visibility and awareness, it was a huge success.

Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated a slew of projects in the city of Ayodhya, including the first phase of a brand new airport, christened the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport. Part of a major move by the Centre to increase connectivity to the home of the soon-to-be inaugurated Ram Mandir, the first phase of the airport cost an estimated Rs 1,450 crore to build.

Meenakashi Lekhi emphasised on Saturday that despite Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed being on the international list of terrorists, Pakistan has never reacted to it. On extradition request to Pakistan to hand over 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, MoS MEA Meenakashi Lekhi stressed that Hafiz Saeed was behind a lot of incidents that have happened in India. «Everyone knows that Hafiz Saeed was behind the Mumbai attacks.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday emphasized the need to shape international relations with Indian characteristics. He highlighted that his "major preoccupation" is to dedicate more time to exploring India's reservoir of culture and knowledge.

Engineering and construction firm Kalpataru Projects International said the company along with overseas subsidiaries and joint ventures bagged new orders worth Rs 3,244 crore and also announced its foray into underground metro rail tunnelling segment. The company said it secured an order for design and construction of an underground metro rail project, marking its foray into electric mobility business with TBM (tunnel boring machine) tunnelling scope. According to a statement, Kalpataru Projects International Ltd (KPIL) along with its joint ventures (JVs) and overseas subsidiaries has secured new orders/notification of awards of Rs 3,244 crore. It has also got orders in the buildings & factories (B&F) business, including KPIL's largest ever design and building contract for a residential project in south India with a built-up area of approximately 13 million square feet from a reputed developer. Besides, the company got orders in the Transmission & Distribution (T&D) business from overseas markets. «We are delighted to announce strategic order wins across diverse businesses.

RBI) on keeping idle funds abroad, is forcing them to close their overseas bank accounts. At least two large British banks, one Swiss lender and a leading Emirates financial institution have snapped their relationships with more than two dozen resident Indians in the past two months, according to service providers and tax practitioners advising these individuals. They had opened the bank accounts by transferring funds overseas under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) which allows a local person to invest up to $250,000 a year in stocks, properties, and for maintenance of relatives among other things.

Virat Kohli has achieved another remarkable feat, breaking the record set by Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara for scoring over 2000 runs in international cricket the most times in a calendar year. Kohli achieved this milestone during the ongoing test match against South Africa. During the match, Kohli crossed 2000 international runs milestone.

Aceh province. The Indonesian navy said a coast guard vessel detected a boat carrying Rohingya refugees entering Indonesia's waters on Wednesday. A helicopter from a navy ship subsequently spotted a wooden vessel nearing Weh island in north Aceh province.

One of the most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges situated in the United States, Coinbase, has just announced a considerable increase of its service offerings. It is also important to note that this expansion is geared towards institutional investors located outside of the United States, since they now have access to spot cryptocurrency trading services on the Coinbase International Exchange. In the beginning, the service, which was launched on December 14, 2023, let users to trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) against USD Coin (USDC).

Bengaluru people on Kempegowda International Airport, Terminal 2 winning the World Special Prize for an Interior 2023 in the airports category and called it a "commendable feat". In a post on X (formerly Twitter), PM Modi shared the glimpses from the Terminal building’s inauguration last year.

₹1924 (Dibrugarh-Guwahati) for economy class. Premium economy class (Dibrugarh-Guwahati) ticket flights start at ₹2324. For those seeking the ultimate in luxury, business-class prices start at ₹9924, guaranteeing a journey with spacious seats and personalized service.

PCB from selling media rights of international matches and the Pakistan Super League, forcing the Cricket Management Committee (CMC) head Zaka Ashraf to postpone his planned visit to Australia and seek a meeting with Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakaar, who is also the chief patron of the board. The government's directive came just as the CMC, managing the affairs of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), had started the process of inviting bids for the sale of PSL and international cricket media rights. «The government's Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (sports) has issued a notification to the board making it clear that from now on, the CMC/PCB has to seek permission from the government before signing any major deal,» a reliable source said on Sunday.

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, causing visibility issues. According to the Flight Information Display System at Delhi Airport, a combined total of 11 international flights and 5 domestic flights arriving at or departing from the airport experienced delays on Saturday, ANI reported.

Great Nicobar Island as an international container terminal and transshipment port through green energy and gas-based power. India plans to develop the proposed port at Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands as an international terminal and port. For this, the island is likely to be connected with green power and gas-based electricity. «The possibility of solar energy is being explored.

Narendra Modi's call for a "wed in India" movement, the Union Tourism Ministry is gearing up to launch a new campaign, «India says I do», on a large scale for not only encouraging affluent Indian families to host weddings within the country but also to draw foreign couples to tie the knot on Indian soil, a TOI report stated. According to a report by KPMG, the Indian wedding market was estimated to generate Rs 3-4 lakh crore annually a few years ago, and the current figures are believed to be even higher. A considerable portion of this spending occurs during lavish destination weddings held abroad. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had predicted a staggering expenditure of Rs 4.7 lakh crore on 38 lakh weddings during the period from November 23 to December 15, marking a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.

₹1924 (Dibrugarh-Guwahati) for economy class. Premium economy class (Dibrugarh-Guwahati) tickets flight starting at ₹2324. For those seeking the ultimate in luxury, business class the prices are starting at ₹9924, guaranteeing a journey with spacious seats and personalized service.

Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL), its former executive director Aakar Patel, and six other individuals and entities before a special court, people in the know said. The agency — which had booked the human rights NGO and the rest of the accused for alleged Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations by committing irregularities in foreign funding in 2019 — has completed its probe in the case, it is reliably learnt. In July this year, the CBI had given an assurance to the special court that it would file its «final report» by October.

₹341 crore), Temasek ( ₹328 crore), a local Thai partner ( ₹11.9 crore) and local debt. The consideration implies an acquisition valuation of 0.9 times FY23 enterprise value/sales and about 7.5-8 times EV/Ebitda. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) in the Indian market are currently struggling to boost growth.

The development triggered a strong investor interest in the stock with nearly 82 lakh shares changing hands on the NSE, while the stock witnessed a 5.20 times spurt in volumes on the BSE. The stock has been a market laggard with returns of just over 2% in the last 12 months while stock's returns in 2023 stand at a mere 7%. In contrast, the Nifty has given over 16% returns. Devyani International's Dubai subsidiary Devyani International DMCC on Monday announced its entry into the Thailand market by signing a share purchase agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Restaurants Development Co, Thailand.

GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport, said people with knowledge of the matter, paving the way for the GMR Group to build its fourth airport in the country. GMR Airports currently operates the Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa airports in India, and an airport each in the Philippines and Indonesia. Among the five lenders, REC has sanctioned the highest amount of Rs 1,245 crore, followed by India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) (Rs 860 crore) and Exim Bank (Rs 455 crore), the people said. The other two members in the consortium are Central Bank of India which sanctioned Rs 364 crore and Bank of Maharashtra that has agreed to lend Rs 291 crore, the people said. The project cost, estimated to be Rs 4,727 crore, would be funded by Rs 3,215 crore debt of debt, equity and equity-linked instruments of Rs 1,377 crore and an Andhra Pradesh government grant of Rs 135 crore.

Libya and Tunisia are principal departure points for migrants risking dangerous sea voyages in hopes of reaching Europe, via Italy. More than 153,000 migrants arrived in Italy this year from Tunisia and Libya, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni won elections last year after vowing to stop illegal migration.