South Asia

State Bank of India has classified the Reliance Communications loan account as fraudulent. The bank cites alleged misappropriation of funds dating back to 2016 in an alleged case. Reliance Communications disclosed the information in a filing of securities that included a letter from SBI dated June 23, detailing the reasons for the lender's decision. According to Indian banking laws once a fraudulent account is reported, the matter will be referred to the enforcement agencies, who can take criminal action. The borrower may not obtain further financing from banks or other financial institutions regulated by the government for a period of...

According to shipping documents and data, Venezuela exported 844,000 barrels of crude oil and fuel per day in June. This is an 8% rise from the previous months, as more cargoes were sent to China to offset the loss of U.S. markets and European ones. Washington terminated in late May a grouping of licenses which had authorized partners, such as Chevron and Repsol of the oil company PDVSA to transport Venezuelan crude for U.S. or European refineries. Since then, the state-owned firm has increased its exports to Asia. It sells its crude oil and fuels through little-known middlemen who make...

Indian stocks rose for the third consecutive session on Thursday. Gains were driven by shares of Reliance Industries, and sectors like financials and metals. The Nifty 50 gained 1.21%, reaching 25,549; the BSE Sensex rose 1.21%, to 83 755.87. This followed a 1% gain in the two previous sessions, which led to nine-month highs. The two major indexes are now about 3% lower than their previous highs, which were reached in September 2024. The Nifty 50 has risen by about 8% this year and the Sensex is up by 7%. On the day, 11 of the 13 sectors that are...

India has allocated record volumes of rice for ethanol production, as it battles with unprecedented inventories. These are expected to grow further when the new crop arrives. This is a turnaround from the earlier shortages which led to export restrictions. The conversion of more rice into ethanol helps reduce the rice stock in the world’s largest producer and exporter. It also keeps India’s ambitious ethanol blend programme on track, despite the drop in sugar cane supplies. India lifted the last of two years' worth of export restrictions in March. The poor rains had curtailed rice production. The abundant monsoon rainfall...

Reliance Industries, owned by billionaire Mukesh Amani, announced on Thursday that it had sold shares in Asian Paints worth 901 million dollars. India's largest Paintmaker is currently facing Potential antitrust scrutiny While its growth is being New aggressive tactics are a challenge Aditya Birla Group is one of the new entrants Birla Opus Urban consumers as well Cutting back Spending discretionary money is a good idea. Reliance Industries has announced that it sold its stake via affiliate Siddhant Commercials. This company held a 4.9% stake until March in the paintmaker. Shown Below Reliance Industries retains approximately 8,7 million shares after...

Two people familiar with the situation said that fashion retailer Shein, along with partner Reliance Retail, plan to expand their Indian suppliers and begin overseas sales of India made Shein branded clothing within six to twelve months. The China-founded, Singapore-headquartered e-commerce firm has been discussing plans with the Indian retailer since before the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese imports that intensified the need to diversify sourcing, the people said. They said the goal is to increase Indian suppliers from 150 to 1,000 within a single year. Shein issued a statement in which it said that its trademark was licensed for...

Afghanistan's acting Commerce Minister said that the Taliban administration has advanced discussions with Russia to allow banks from both sanction-hit economies, Russia and Afghanistan, to settle trade transactions in local currency worth hundreds of millions in dollars. Haji Nooruddin, Azizi's minister, said on Thursday that the Afghan government had made similar offers to China. He said that discussions had taken place with the Chinese Embassy in Kabul. Azizi stated that technical teams in both countries were working on the proposal with Russia. As Moscow looks to use national currencies as a way to move away from the dollar, and Afghanistan...

These are the most popular stories from the Financial Times. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. Headlines After three years of negotiations, UK and India reach a trade agreement UK closes on US trade deal with lower tariff quotas and cars After rival complaint, a Czech court stops an $18 billion deal for nuclear reactors Brussels wants to force EU gas companies to reveal their Russian contracts View the full article Britain and India have signed a free trade agreement that has been long sought after. The tariff wars sparked by U.S. president Donald...

The OPEC+ group's increased supply is not the reason for which they claim it is. On May 3, the eight OPEC+ member countries who have agreed to voluntary production cuts decided to relax their curbs for June. This time, they added back 411,000 barrels a day (bpd). Calculations show that the June increase will bring the combined April, May, and June increases to 960,000 bpd. This represents a 44% reduction of the 2.2million bpd decrease. In a statement posted on the website of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the eight stated that the decision to increase output was...

The International Monetary Fund announced on Thursday that it expects the Middle East and North Africa economy to grow only 2.6% by 2025, as uncertainty stemming a trade war in the world and lower oil prices are weighing on this region. The new projection was a significant downgrade from the October projection, which predicted 4% growth. This comes at a time when the region is grappling with geopolitical tensions and a softer external market. In an interview, Jihad Azour said, "Uncertainty can impact real economy, consumption and investment... All these elements have led to a softerening of projections." The direct...

Castrol India, a producer of engine oil and lubricants, reported a 8% increase in its first-quarter profits on Monday due to the growing demand for their products. The profit at Castrol India (majority owned by British oil giant BP) increased to $27.4 million from the 2.16 billion rupees it earned a year earlier. Revenue increased by 7.3%, to 14.22 billion Rupees. Castrol is India’s largest private retailer for engine oils. It has focused on providing premium products to sport utility vehicles, India's top-selling car category. Analysts believe the company will benefit from the rising demand for oil products, as India's...

Reliance Industries, India's largest company, beat expectations for its fourth-quarter profits on Friday as strong performances in its retail and digital business offset the weakness in its Oil-to-Chemicals (O2C), unit. According to LSEG, the Mukesh Ambani conglomerate reported a consolidated net profit of 194.07 trillion rupees (2.27 billion dollars) for the three-month period ended March 31. This was higher than analysts' expectations (188.77 trillion rupees), according to LSEG. The company reported that the EBITDA (earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization) of its mainstay O2C businesses fell by 10% as a result of a weakness in transportation fuel cracks. The EBITDA...

Investors held off on making large bets as they awaited the U.S. Payroll data that would be released later in the day to get a better idea of the Federal Reserve’s policy direction. As of 0211 GMT spot gold fell 0.3% per ounce to $3346.47, while U.S. Gold Futures edged up 0.1% to $3357.20. OANDA Senior Market Analyst Kelvin Wong stated that gold appears to be consolidating in the $3,320-$3,360 range. The market is waiting to see what happens with U.S. Non Farm Payroll data and ISM Services' PMI before taking any significant positions. ADP released data showing that private...

According to an order, India's antitrust agency ordered an investigation of Asian Paints on Tuesday after Aditya Birla Group paints venture claimed that the country’s top paint manufacturer abused its dominant position in the market. According to the order, Asian Paints' initial review by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), showed that it had violated competition laws. Birla claims that Asian Paints abused its dominant position on the market by offering incentives and discounts to dealers, such as travel abroad in exchange for exclusivity. Birla claimed that Asian Paints increased the sales targets for dealers dealing with Birla's products. Birla...

Iron ore has surpassed coal as the top commodity exported by Australia. This is due to the increase in shipments to China of steel raw materials. Gold is now threatening to surpass coal. According to the latest quarterly report of Australia's government commodity forecaster, earnings from precious metal exports are expected to increase to A$56 Billion ($36.6 Billion) in the fiscal period starting July 1. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources released data on Monday that showed this figure was higher than the A$39bn forecast for metallurgical and thermal coal. The combined export earnings of A$67billion for 2025-26 are...

Iron ore has surpassed coal as the top commodity exported by Australia. This is due to the increase in shipments to China of steel raw materials. Gold is now threatening to surpass coal. According to the latest quarterly report of Australia's government commodity forecaster, earnings from precious metal exports are expected to increase to A$56 Billion ($36.6 Billion) in the fiscal period starting July 1. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources released data on Monday that showed this figure was higher than the A$39bn forecast for metallurgical and thermal coal. The combined export earnings of A$67billion for 2025-26 are...

Chinese rare earth magnets are now flowing into the automotive supply chain, reducing the threat of mass closures. However, automakers and suppliers still say that production plans face uncertainty and there is a risk of shortages. Nils Poel is the head of market affairs for supplier association CLEPA. He said that European suppliers received enough licenses to prevent widespread disruptions earlier this month. However, hundreds of permits are still pending. He said that the rate of issuance has "accelerated" from 25% to 60%, but in cases where end users are located in the United States or products are transported through...

JSW Steel, an Indian steelmaker, said it filed a review application before India's highest court on Wednesday in relation to the rejection by the court of its $2.3 billion acquisition plan of Bhushan Power and Steel. The Supreme Court of India, in its ruling on the resolution plan for JSW Steel to acquire BPSL, ordered the liquidation of the company four years after it was acquired. The court halted liquidation proceedings on May 26 after JSW Steel, and some BPSL creditors informed the Supreme Court they would be filing a review against the order. The court said the liquidation proceedings...

Tesla's European new car sales fell by 27.9% from a year ago in May, even though sales of fully-electric vehicles in the region grew by 27.2%. The revised Model Y has yet to show any signs of reviving Tesla's fortunes. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association's (ACEA) data showed that overall car sales in Europe increased by 1.9%. Plug-in hybrids and alternative fuel cars saw the biggest growth. Why it's important Tesla's European Sales have fallen for the fifth consecutive month as customers opt for cheaper Chinese EVs, and in some cases protest against Elon Musk. Tesla's European Market Share dropped...

China's imports of iron ore are expected to be their highest month in this year in June, a sign of resilience not mirrored by the steel industry's sluggishness. According to analysts LSEG & Kpler, China is expected to import nearly 110 million metric tonnes of this key raw material for steel. Kpler estimates that 109.56 millions tons of cargo will arrive in June, while LSEG predicts 109.1million. It would be an increase of about 11% over May's official imported 98.13 millions tons, and the best month since December's 112,49 million tons which was the second highest on record. Why are...

Hindustan Zinc (India's largest producer of refined metal) has approved a 120 billion rupees (1,39 billion dollars) project to increase capacity. The miner announced this on Tuesday. The company plans to build a 250-kilo-tonne (KT) metals complex in Rajasthan, a state in northern India where it operates a zinc smelter. This (project) is only the beginning of a larger plan. We will release more parts within a month or so," said CEO Arun misra, adding that the company aims to double its production from 1.02 MT to 2 MT per year. The company has said that it will use its...

Prices of copper rose on Monday, after higher consumer spending raised hopes that metals demand would increase in China. By 0950 GMT, the benchmark three-month price of copper at the London Metal Exchange had risen by 0.2% to $9,660 per metric tonne. Metals investors were focused on retail sales that exceeded expectations, even though China's factory production growth in May was at a six-month minimum. You've still got all of these consumer products, like washing machines, air conditioners and electric vehicles. "As long as people continue to buy all of that stuff, it is good for base metals," Dan Smith...

The Shanghai Futures Exchange saw most metals trade lower on Monday as mixed Chinese economic data reinforced investor caution. Escalating tensions between Israel, Iran and other countries also weighed on investor sentiment. As of 0224 GMT the SHFE's most-traded contract for copper was unchanged at 78.390 yuan per metric ton ($10,910.69), while zinc dropped 0.8% to 21.780 yuan. Aluminum fell 0.2% to 20,375 yuan and nickel was down 0.6% at 119,370. Lead also declined 0.3%. Tin edged up 0.2% to 264,820. Metals analysts at a Beijing futures company said that the conflict has created a new level of uncertainty in...

The gold discounts in India reached their highest level in over a month this week, due to a rise in prices that were near record highs. Meanwhile, the rising rates in other major Asian cities also dampened demand. On Friday, domestic gold prices traded at around 98.300 rupees for 10 grams, having rebounded from a monthly low of 90.890 rupees and approaching the all-time record of 99.358 rupees. Indian dealers were forced to offer discounts due to the price spike Up to $56 per ounce less than official domestic prices. This includes a 6% duty on imports and a 3%...