International Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Travellers will have to wait a while longer to fly overseas from Navi Mumbai International Airport as the Adani Group-owned facility has postponed the start of its international operations due to the ongoing war in West Asia, a senior executive familiar with the development told Mint on the on the sidelines of the Airport360 Expo in Mumbai.International flights were originally meant to commence at the airport from 29 March, in line with the start of the 2026 summer flight schedule in India. However, the Iran conflict has forced a rethink, causing the launch to be pushed further into the season, said the executive, who requested anonymity to discuss business plans."It is difficult to specify an exact start date at this point, but we expect international departures to commence once the Gulf situation stabilizes,” the executive added.Airlines had lined up nearly 20 daily international departures from the airport for the summer schedule, reflecting strong anticipated demand for overseas travel, particularly to Gulf destinations that are key routes for Indian carriers, the executive said.However, Indian airlines have limited or no flights to the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, which has also led to higher fuel prices and longer flying hours for airlines.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Law firms are closely watching a potentially precedent-setting case before India’s bankruptcy courts that could have far-reaching implications for companies dealing with entities facing international sanctions.At the heart of the dispute lies a key question: can companies legitimately withhold payments to a sanctioned supplier, or can the supplier initiate insolvency proceedings over non-payment? Whichever way this question is ultimately settled is likely to reshape bankruptcy disputes in India.The issue has surfaced after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Ahmedabad, in a 26 March order, held that foreign sanctions cannot be used as a defence to avoid payment of dues to operational creditors such as suppliers and vendors.The case involves an insolvency plea by Mumbai-based petrochemical supplier CJ Shah & Co. against Flint Group India Pvt.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If the Iran War has taught us nothing else, it’s that weaponizing shipping routes is now the military move du jour. That has rightly turned attention to the Taiwan Strait, but in this era of intense US-China rivalry, the Strait of Malacca is just as important.The shipping route—which carries roughly 40% of global trade and around 80% of China’s imported oil—has long been regarded as vulnerable to disruption. Southeast Asia’s divisions will make any crisis much harder to contain.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The conflict with Iran has entered a damaging new phase—a crippling limbo between war and peace that leaves the Strait of Hormuz closed and the prospect of escalation looming.The missiles and bombs that the U.S. and Israel rained down on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory salvos might have stopped with President Trump’s indefinite extension of a cease-fire.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Akasa Air, India’s third largest airline, is tapping into the month-long demand for Hajj travel to deploy its aircraft capacity left underutilized after services to parts of West Asia were scaled back due to the ongoing war in the region, according to a person aware of the development.Approximately five to six airplanes were used on the West Asia route, which are now being used majorly for Hajj travel," said the person quoted above, requesting anonymity as this plan is part of business strategy.Flights to and from Doha, Riyadh and Kuwait have been suspended until 30 April, according to the airline’s 21 April post on X. While it continues to operate flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia—the main gateway for pilgrims going to Mecca—from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kochi and Kozhikode, Akasa is evaluating resumption of flights to Abu Dhabi, the post said.Akasa Air did not respond to Mint’s queries on aircraft utilization, Hajj travel and the impact of the West Asia crisis.The airline has inducted eight new aircraft in 2026, taking the fleet size to 38.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Chennai-based M2P Fintech has appointed former Hitachi Payment Services finance executive Vivek Seshadri as group CFO, as it begins laying the groundwork for a potential IPO over the next few years, co-founder and CEO Madhusudanan R told Mint.The move marks a formal step toward institutionalizing the fintech’s finance function as it scales globally and prepares for eventual public markets scrutiny. While the company says a listing is still “at least a couple of years away”, the hire signals that IPO preparation has begun internally.“We are at least a couple of years away,” said Madhu.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Warner Chappell Music (WCM), the global publishing arm of Warner Music Group (WMG), has launched direct operations in India, transitioning from its sub-publishing model to a full-scale, direct-to-market presence. The company said this would allow Indian artists to benefit from international collaborations, a global creative network, rights management infrastructure, and faster, more efficient licensing processes.Jay Mehta, who has served as managing director of Warner Music India since its 2020 launch, will lead the new division.In his expanded role as managing director, recorded music and publishing, India and SAARC at WMG, Mehta will oversee both recorded music and publishing operations across India and neighbouring South Asian markets.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s foodgrain stocks have surged well above its buffer norms, strengthening the country’s cushion against supply shocks and global price swings. Government data shows central pool reserves were at 60.48 million tonnes (mt) as on 1 April—nearly three times the mandate—fanning a debate over how best to manage surplus stocks to benefit both farmers and consumers.The latest data marks a strong recovery from 33.2 mt stock in 2023 and 37.65 mt in 2024, when food grain inventories had tightened.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Amazon is investing $5 billion more into the AI startup Anthropic and up to $20 billion longer-term.An expanded agreement includes a pledge by Anthropic to spend more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on Amazon’s AWS artificial intelligence technologies.The agreement includes current and future generations of Amazon’s custom Trainium chips and tens of millions of Graviton CPU chips, and up to 5 gigawatts of capacity to train and power its advanced AI models.The two companies also announced a meaningful expansion of international inference in Asia and Europe to better serve Claude’s growing international customer base.Amazon’s additional investment comes on top of the $8 billion Amazon previously invested in Anthropic.Amazon’s shares were up 2.6% to $254.80 after the bell. Amazon’s stock is up 7.6% year to date through Monday’s close, and 43% over the past 12 months.Write to Janet H.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently updated its economic data for member countries, as part of the health check it conducts on the global economy twice every year. One number buried in the latest World Economic Outlook database is worth pulling out: India’s current account deficit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Mac Mini was sorely in need of an update, and John Ternus hoped he didn’t need to go through design guru Jony Ive.Years ago, before Ternus was tapped to take the helm of one of the world’s biggest and most influential companies, he led Apple’s Mac hardware division. It was one of many stops as he rose through the ranks of the insular company and learned to navigate its curious internal politics.The AI revolution that would make the Mac Mini hugely popular was still years away, yet software developers needed a new version with updated chips.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Three weeks after its official inauguration, the Noida International Airport faces fresh uncertainty over the start of commercial flights, as a key security clearance for its chief executive is still pending. The nod from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)—essential before operations can begin—has yet to come through, raising the possibility of a delay to the airport’s planned mid-May launch.The Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, 100 km off Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 March 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Zero sugar is no longer a differentiator for India’s soft-drinks industry – it’s a way of ensuring a stake in the market. After a year in which zero sugar dominated advertising and shelf space, beverage makers are offering functional drinks – reduced or no-sugar products with zero calories and ingredients like vitamins, minerals, probiotics and prebiotics.Chini Kum has entered the market with zero-sugar, low-calorie drinks fortified with prebiotic fibre.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India needs to rethink its power storage options in the light of an energy shock that has exposed the fragility of global supply chains. Since geopolitical conflict and wobbly rules of international engagement are unlikely to relieve us of trade clamps being used as weapons, we must adjust our cost and security calculus accordingly. At particular risk are battery electric storage systems (BESS) that are now increasingly favoured by renewable energy (RE) producers for grid-scale storage.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bengaluru: Real estate investment firm Certus Capital plans to invest around ₹2000 crore in residential, office and mixed-use development projects in 2026-27, said a top executive.The Mumbai-headquartered firm will deploy the capital through a combination of proprietary balance sheet and its recently launched alternative investment fund (AIF).Certus Capital is currently raising its second Category-2 AIF—Certus TFCI Real Estate Fund—of ₹500 crore plus a green-shoe option of ₹500 crore. Tourism Finance Corp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It’s a long shot, but asset management companies (AMCs) are trying everything to lure fund managers into swapping their Bandra Kurla Complex offices for a new life in an upcoming financial hub about 500 km away.AMCs are offering pay hikes, relocation perks and faster career tracks to coax fund managers into moving to GIFT City, where talent remains hesitant to move.The push comes as regulators tighten norms on keeping an on-ground presence in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), forcing fund houses to ensure that key personnel are physically based in GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City). But attracting experienced fund managers has proved to be difficult, with AMCs competing for a limited talent pool."Fund managers, if they have to move to GIFT City, are likely to ask for a salary hike.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. has become the first homegrown information technology (IT) services company to grant its board complete oversight of artificial intelligence, underlining the technology's importance amid an uncertain demand environment.As part of its AI guidelines, the company's board of directors will monitor the use of AI tools and their financial impact on the company.

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.The Centre is planning to roll back a significant number of quality control orders (QCOs) imposed on input materials, aiming to ease compliance burdens and support manufacturing amid US-Iran war-led disruptions.The exercise, being led by the consumer affairs department, will be completed in phases, and all line ministries have been asked to identify products that could benefit from the removal of quality controls, said two government officials familiar with the discussions.“The proposed rollback is expected to focus on input materials where domestic capacity remains limited or where mandatory certification has disrupted supply chains,” said the first government official, on the condition of anonymity.The move follows a NITI Aayog committee recommendation to ease QCOs to augment manufacturing and ensure the availability of raw materials at affordable rates.“As recommended by NITI Aayog, we have asked line ministries to identify all such QCOs that can be withdrawn without impacting quality and domestic industry,” said the second official, also on the condition of anonymity.This official, however, maintained that some important QCOs will be introduced, if needed, to protect against substandard imports of finished goods or raw materials.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A body representing alternative investment funds (AIFs) at GIFT International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) asked the government to intervene after the RBI mandated in late March that such funds must be treated as ‘resident Indians’ when reporting foreign assets.In a letter dated 10 April, which Mint has seen, the AIF Chief Financial Officers Association flagged a “critical regulatory overlap” triggered by the RBI's mandate for filing foreign liabilities and assets (FLA) returns, saying it conflicts with the specialized status usually granted to funds in the international zone. GIFT IFSC is a specialized regulatory zone within GIFT City that’s treated as a foreign jurisdiction for financial transactions.The association asked the union government to start a dialogue with the central bank and issue a joint clarification circular exempting IFSCA-registered entities from the FLA return rule.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Hostilities in West Asia may have eased, but oil prices remain well above pre-war levels. Though prices have stayed below $100 a barrel since the ceasefire announcement, conflicting signals from the US and Iran are keeping markets volatile.Mint looks at the near-term outlook.Yes.