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Aviva said on Saturday its India unit is «actively engaging» with local authorities in connection with alleged tax evasion practices. Reuters reported on Friday that an Indian tax agency has found that Aviva India breached local regulations capping commissions to sales agents with a system of fake invoices and clandestine cash payments between 2017 and 2023. Aviva's India business paid about $26 million to entities who purportedly provided marketing and training services, but they did not perform any work and were actually a front for channeling funds to Aviva's agents, the tax agency said in a Aug. 3 notice reviewed by Reuters.

KB Advisory Group founder Kristin Bentz analyzes the disconnect between Main Street and Wall Street on 'Making Money.'

Telegram boss Pavel Durov that has fired a warning shot to global tech titans was started by a small cybercrime unit within the Paris prosecutor's office, led by 38-year-old Johanna Brousse. The arrest of Durov, 39, last Saturday marks a significant shift in how some global authorities may seek to deal with tech chiefs reluctant to police illegal content on their platforms. The arrest signalled the mettle of the J3 cybercrime unit, but the true test of its ambitions will be whether Brousse can secure a conviction based on a largely untested legal argument, lawyers said. In an unprecedented move against a major tech CEO, prosecutors argued Durov bears responsibility for the alleged illegality on his platform, placing him under formal investigation on organized crime charges. He is suspected of complicity in running an online platform that allows the posting of child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud.

Indian Banks' Association is likely to ask the central bank to reduce the amount of additional funds lenders will need to set aside against some retail deposits and also seek a delayed and gradual implementation of the proposal, seven sources told Reuters. The Reserve Bank of India in July proposed an additional 5% 'runoff' requirement on retail deposits enabled with internet and mobile banking facilities to bolster the liquidity resilience of banks. The RBI had sought feedback on the proposal until Aug. 31, after which it would finalise them for implementation from April 2025.

consumer spending increased solidly in July, suggesting the economy remained on firmer ground early in the third quarter and arguing against a half-percentage-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.5% last month after advancing by an unrevised 0.3% in June, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast spending would accelerate by 0.5%. This implies that consumer spending maintained most of the momentum from the second quarter, when it helped to boost gross domestic product growth to a 3.0% annualized rate. The economy grew at a 1.4% pace in the January-March quarter.

Oil prices were steady in early trading on Friday as investors weighed supply concerns in the Middle East against signs of weakened demand. Brent crude futures for October delivery expire on Friday and were unchanged at 0033 GMT. The more actively traded contract for November fell 7 cents or 0.09% to $78.75. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 11 cents, or 0.14%, to $75.80.

Gold prices were little changed on Friday, but were poised for a monthly gain on prospects of a U.S. interest rate cut in September, while traders awaited key U.S. inflation data for further insights.

economic data pared bets for aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. The euro languished close to a two-week low to the dollar as cooling inflation in Germany and Spain boosted the case for European Central Bank easing.

Apple is in talks to invest in OpenAI as part of a new fundraising round that would value the ChatGPT maker above $100 billion, Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The news comes a day after the Journal reported that venture-capital firm Thrive Capital would invest around $1 billion in OpenAI, leading the funding round. Apple and OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Thrive Capital and Microsoft declined comment.

Apple is in talks to invest in OpenAI as part of a new fundraising round that would value the ChatGPT maker above $100 billion, Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The news comes a day after the Journal reported that venture-capital firm Thrive Capital would invest around $1 billion in OpenAI, leading the funding round. OpenAI-backer Microsoft is also expected to invest in the firm, the report said.

Walt Disney Co and Reliance Industries won approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday for an $8.5 billion merger of their Indian media assets after offering concessions relating to their grip on broadcasting rights for cricket, India's favourite sport. Here are the key points raised in the CCI's initial assessment, according to a confidential letter sent to the companies on Aug. 19 and reviewed by Reuters: MARKET POSITION

Oil prices held mostly steady on Thursday as a smaller-than-expected draw in U.S. crude inventories and continued worries over China demand countered supply disruptions out of Libya. Brent crude futures were down 1 cent, or 0.01%, at $78.64 a barrel at 0043 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $74.60.

The Antique", which has been reportedly called Georgian anti-Vladimir Putin movie, has been stopped from being premiered in Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (GdA), as per a Deadline report. The screening of «The Antique» was stopped after Russian and Croatian producers claimed that there are copyright issues pertaining to the film's screenplay, Deadline reported. Georgian producers and MPM International have countered these claims. The movie is reportedly inspired from Georgian nationals' expulsion in 2006, as per the report.

Stock Exchange (BSE) surged 5% to a high of Rs 2,834.80 after the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) on Tuesday restarted the process of its long pending public offering. NSE has applied for a no-objection with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), a Reuters report said citing sources.

The Claman Countdown panelists Scott Redler and Michael Landsberg give their take on the possibility of a recession.

Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday, but held near a record high hit last week on prospects of imminent U.S. rate cuts and safe-haven demand fuelled by the Middle East crisis.

target for monetary policy rather than switching to core inflation, external members of the central bank's rate panel told Reuters. A suggestion was made in the government's official annual economic report last month to target inflation excluding volatile food prices, which are driven more by supply shortages. The idea has ignited a debate in India over the appropriate target for monetary policy. India adopted the inflation targeting framework in 2016, setting a 4% headline inflation target for the central bank's rate setting panel.

Nestle CEO Mark Schneider was ousted in a sudden move by the world's biggest foodmaker as a result of the group's underperformance, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The company announced Schneider's departure late on Thursday following a board meeting and appointed veteran Laurent Freixe as its new CEO. That put an end to a near eight-year tenure at the helm by the 58-year-old German, the first company outsider to lead Nestle in nearly a century. Nestle declined to give further details beyond comments made on an investor call on Friday, where Chairman Paul Bulcke said the board together with Schneider had assessed the current environment and together had agreed to make the change.

Veteran PBS journalist Judy Woodruff has apologized for remarks she had made regarding former President Donald Trump and negotiations for peace between Israel and Hamas in Gaza

Elon Musk will have a hard time convincing the European Commission, currently investigation his company X, formerly Twitter, about rules breach around sharing illegal content and misinformation peddling. For starters, Thierry Breton and Margrethe Vestager, who are some of the most determined European Commissioners, are now equipped with a new legal tool, which could easily be used to axe Musk and his company, says Reuters. These factors could lead to Musk deciding on exiting the European Union entirely and focus on the rest of the world for now.

unemployment benefits rose in the latest week, but the level still suggested a gradual cooling of the labor market remains intact. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 232,000 for the week ended Aug. 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 230,000 claims for the latest week. The latest data should continue to allay fears that the labor market is rapidly deteriorating, first raised after a much sharper than expected slowdown in job gains in July, which also saw the unemployment rate rise to a post-pandemic high of 4.3%.