South Asia

Shumeet Baniaerji, an independent director of the BBC board, resigned on Friday after the broadcaster claimed that a speech given by Donald Trump was incorrectly edited. The BBC has threatened to sue for $5 billion over the matter. Banerji resigned a couple of weeks before the end of his four-year tenure. He is also a member of the board of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, and a former CEO of management consulting firm Booz & Company. Banerji, according to the broadcaster's news department, had written in his resignation letter that he felt upset by governance issues at top management. BBC News...

Reliance Industries, India's largest refiner of crude oil, has ceased importing Russian crude into its Jamnagar complex in western Gujarat from November 20, a spokesperson for the company said. The Indian conglomerate has said that it will abide by the sanctions against Moscow, while maintaining its ties with existing oil suppliers. The United States, Britain and the European Union have all imposed sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the war in Ukraine. New sanctions by the U.S. target its two largest oil producers, Rosneft, and Lukoil. Reliance's spokesperson stated in a press release that all products exported from the...

A senior White House official stated on Monday that President Donald Trump would be willing to sign legislation imposing sanctions on Russia, as long as the ultimate decision-making power remained with him. Trump told reporters on Sunday night that he was "OK" with Republicans working on legislation to impose restrictions on countries that do business with Russia because Moscow failed to negotiate a deal with Ukraine. Trump suggested that lawmakers could add Iran to sanctions measures. Both Senator Lindsey Graham, and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick are Republicans. They sponsored legislation to impose restrictions on countries that do business with Russia....

Reliance Industries will build a 1 gigawatt AI datacenter in Andhra Pradesh in India, announced the chief minister of the state on Friday. This is a major addition to the infrastructure in India, where companies like Microsoft and Google have invested heavily in AI. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, did not reveal financial details about the investment. Reliance didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. Companies are investing heavily in building new infrastructure around the world to meet the booming demand for AI-based services. India is an important growth market, where almost a billion people access...

Two trade sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Indian state refiners awarded their first long-term joint tenders in 2026 to Chevron Phillips 66, and TotalEnergies Trading SA for the import of U.S. liquefied gas. India is planning to increase energy imports to the U.S. in order to reduce its trade surplus. This is a major irritation for President Donald Trump who imposed a 50% tariff on Indian imports. The three refiners wanted to jointly purchase 48 large gas carriers or 2 million metric tonnes of LPG by 2026. LPG, a mixture of butane and propane, is used to cook....

Saudi Aramco's decision to reduce the price of crude oil it sells to Asian refiners in December has been seen as an attempt to gain market share, amid fears of global oversupply. The reduction in Saudi crude oil was lower than the forecasts of Asian refiners. It seems to be a way for the world's largest crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, to remain competitive against other grades while giving it flexibility should China or India reject Russian barrels due U.S. sanctions. Aramco lowered last week its official selling price for its benchmark Arab Light for Asian customers by $1 per barrel...

Early Asian trade on Monday saw oil prices drop, erasing gains made in the previous session. Oversupply worries outweighed optimism about a possible resolution to the U.S. Government Shutdown. Brent crude futures dropped 13 cents or 0.2% to $63.93 per barrel at 0100 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude was also at $60 per barrel, down 13 cents or 0.2%. Both benchmarks rose by around 40 cents during the last session. The longest government shut down in U.S. History could end this coming week. A compromise to restore federal funding passed the initial Senate hurdle on Sunday night, but it...

Sources in the trade said that two Indian state refiners purchased 5,000,000 barrels of crude from spot markets through tenders, as they continue their search for alternatives to Russian supplies. Hindustan Petroleum Corp. has purchased 2 million barrels of each U.S. West Texas Intermediate and Abu Dhabi Murban crudes for arrival in January, according to reports. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd purchased one million barrels Basra Medium Crude for delivery between January 1-7, according to the company. It was not immediately clear who the sellers were or what their prices were. Indian refiners have been looking for alternatives since U.S....

The quarterly profit of Indian beauty retailer Nykaa more than tripled on Friday. This was boosted by the steady demand for skincare and makeup products, as well as through new partnerships with global brands. The company, which was formerly known as FSN e-Commerce Ventures posted a profit for the quarter ending September 30 of 344.4 millions rupees (about $3.9 million), up from 100.4million rupees one year earlier. Nykaa's quarterly results reveal that it is focusing on profitability and doubling down on the core beauty business. This has meant expanding the offline presence and securing strategic partnerships, including Katrina Kaif’s Kay...

Indian Oil Corp, the top refiner in India, has purchased five cargoes from non-sanctioned companies for delivery in December. Traders said that India had resumed purchases despite Washington's pressure to stop purchasing Russian oil. Washington imposed sanctions last week on Rosneft, and Lukoil - the two largest Russian oil companies - in an effort to increase pressure on President Vladimir Putin for the end of the war in Ukraine. Since then, Indian refiners, including the state-run Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd. and Reliance Industries (the operator of the largest refining facility in the world) have stopped...

Reliance Industries in India and Google announced tie-ups in artificial intelligence for consumers and businesses, including a free 18-month subscription to Google's Gemini AI Pro Platform, as part of a push to increase AI adoption in India. The companies have announced that the offer, currently priced at 35.100 rupees (about $399) for 18 months will allow Jio users to access the latest Gemini 2. Pro model, 2TB of cloud storage and its image and videos generation models. OpenAI announced a few days earlier that it would provide users with ChatGPT Go access for a full year in India. India's AI...

India announced on Thursday that the U.S. had granted it a six-month waiver of sanctions to operate Chabahar's Iranian port. This will help New Delhi to boost its trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian nations, bypassing Pakistan. Last year, India signed a contract for 10 years with Iran. Develop and operate a port This month, the United States has increased its cooperation with Taliban-run Afghanistan. Reopening of its Embassy Kabul was closed in 2021 after the Islamist group took power following the withdrawal by the U.S. led NATO forces. Initially, the port was planned to be built on Iran's Gulf...

According to three sources familiar with the issue, Indian officials are looking into whether a safety lapse in the supply chain of a pharmaceutical component was responsible for the contamination of cough syrup which has caused the deaths at least 24 children over the past few months. Three health and drug safety officers from Tamil Nadu said they believed the solvent used in the production of a batch Coldrif cough medicine could have been contaminated by a toxic chemical at the time when it was delivered to the drugmaker Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturing. Sresan purchased 50 kg of propylene glycol solvent...

Two officials familiar with this matter claim that the creditors of India's Jaiprakash Associates have unanimously supported Adani Enterprises 135 billion rupees ($1.53billion) bid to take over the bankrupt infrastructure company. They preferred it to Vedanta. The officials, who declined to be identified because the matter was private, said that Adani's bid, which included higher upfront payments, won out over Vedanta’s offer of 170-billion rupees. Other bidders were Dalmia Bharat and Vedanta as well as Jindal Power, PNC Infratech, and Dalmia Bharat. Manoj Gaur, the controlling shareholder, had also made a last-minute offer, which was later withdrawn. Jaiprakash Associates owes...

T.V. Narendran, the chief executive of Tata Steel India, hopes that the government will extend the import tariffs for some steel products in order to protect against imports from China and other countries. Narendran said on Thursday. Narendran, in an interview, said that although the import volumes in India are small, they still affect the market. Narendran stated that "China exports a lot" of steel globally, and added that Indian steel producers had no choice but to export due to the "over-saturation" of most markets by Chinese competitors. In April, India, the second largest crude steel producer in the world,...

Gold prices rose on Wednesday ahead of a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to reopen government, which could resume the flow of economic information and pave the way for the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates by December. As of 09:41 am (1158 GMT), spot gold was up by 0.3%, at $4,137.95 an ounce. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery rose by 0.7%, to $4.143.30 an ounce. Gold is still holding its recent gains, as the House votes today to end the shutdown of the federal government. Recent price movement would suggest that any delays in House...

Tata Steel reported on Wednesday a nearly 4-fold increase in its quarterly profit, as strong demand in key markets and lower taxes expenses helped to limit the impact of falling prices. The company's net profit for the third quarter ended 30 September was 31.02 billion rupies ($352.9 millions), up from 8.33 billion rupies a year earlier. JSW Steel, a leading steelmaker, posted an increase in profits for the third quarter of September last month due to increased sales volume. The company anticipates that prices for the alloy will increase in the quarter ending December. India, which is the second largest...

Investors waited for a House of Representatives vote to reopen federal government. This could provide clarity about economic data, and possible Federal Reserve rate reductions. As of 8:37 GMT, spot gold remained unchanged at $4,131.80 an ounce. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery rose 0.5%, to $4.137.20 an ounce. "Everyone awaits more clarity about the government shutdown, and when data will be coming from the U.S.A. again," said UBS Analyst Giovanni Staunovo. Gold prices are still on an upward trend. Staunovo said that nothing structurally has changed. Gold prices are up more than 57% in the past year, with a...

Wednesday saw gold rise for the fourth consecutive session, with a lower dollar and the expectation that the reopening U.S. Government and the flow of economic data would strengthen bets on a Federal Reserve rate cut in the next month. Gold spot rose 0.2%, to $4,133.99 an ounce, at 0155 GMT. It had reached its highest level since October 23, Tuesday. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery rose 0.6%, to $4140.10 an ounce. Tim Waterer, KCM Trade's Chief Market Analyst, said that the dollar's decline has helped gold and silver. Both metals have seen gains in this week. Gold is...

Gold prices continued to rise on Tuesday, reaching their highest level for nearly three weeks. This was due to growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again in December. There were also signs that the U.S. Government shutdown would be ending. As of 0458 GMT spot gold rose 0.7% to $4,142.72 an ounce. This is the highest it has been since October 23. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery rose by 0.7%, to $4148.80 an ounce. The U.S. Senate approved a deal Monday to restore federal funding, ending the longest government shut down. The shutdown has...

Gold reached a three-week high Tuesday. This was helped by the growing expectation of another interest rate reduction in December from the U.S. Federal Reserve and signs that the U.S. Government shutdown will be over. Gold spot was up 0.7% to $4,142.83 an ounce at 0314 GMT. This is its highest level since October 24. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery rose by 0.7% to $4148.50 an ounce. Late on Monday, the U.S. Senate approved a deal to restore federal funding in the United States and end this longest-running shutdown. The federal government shutdown has delayed the release of key...

The London Bullion Market Association reported that the amount of silver held in London vaults reached 26,255 metric tonnes, worth $41.3 billion at the end October. This is an increase of 6.8% compared to the previous month. Last month, traders and analysts reported that large flows of silver to London's Spot Market in October from the U.S.A. and China eased liquidity constraints in the world's biggest over-the counter precious metals trading center. The short-term borrowing rates for silver in London have eased since the record highs reached in the first half October. However, they remain historically high. London vaults hold...

The physical gold demand in India was subdued in this week's trading as the volatile price levels discouraged buyers and led dealers to offer steep discounts in order to attract them. In China, demand also cooled due to new tax regulations. Indian dealers are offering a discount The discount is now up to $14 per kilogram over the official domestic price, including 6% import duties and 3% sales taxes, compared to last week's up to $12. A New Delhi jeweller said that investment demand was the main driver of the market last month. But now, even investors are waiting for...

ICL Group, a fertiliser manufacturer, has waived its right of first refusal in order to bid for the concession it holds at the Dead Sea. The Israeli government announced the plan on Thursday. However, if the permit expires and it is not renewed by ICL Group it will still receive $3 billion. ICL has had exclusive rights for minerals at the Dead Sea site since 1950. The permit expires in 2030. Finance Ministry, however, stated that it was preparing a "competitive international and fair tender" to ensure that the public and state receive their rightful share of this unique natural...