BUSINESS
India’s driest august in a century stokes fears of more crop curbs
The country received 629.7 millimeters of rainfall this month, 36% lower than normal, according to data compiled by the India Meteorological Department. Total rainfall during June-August was 10% below average, the figures show.
BUSINESS
Leading Indian bad debt recovery company seeks global partners to boost presence
ARCIL, with assets of more than 162 billion rupees, is looking to acquire soured debt from “promising” sectors such as renewable energy, road, steel and logistics. It may bring Avenue Capital as a co-investor, Mohapatra said.
WORLD
China’s factory activity contracts again amid gloomy outlook
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose slightly to 49.7 last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, in contraction but still an improvement over the 49.3 reading in July.
WORLD
Country Garden enters key phase as voting ends on bond extension
This all marks a crucial phase for Country Garden, which revealed late Wednesday an unprecedented net loss of 48.9 billion yuan in the first half of the year.
WORLD
Tesla executive in purchasing probe draws scrutiny from US
The US Attorney’s Office in New York has sent subpoenas to a number of current and former employees at the EV-maker in recent weeks seeking information related to the materials, according to people familiar with the probe.
WORLD
Nvidia partner expects AI server sales to double in 2024
The AI boom “actually is going to maintain and you’ll see its growth keeping stronger and stronger for the upcoming years,” President Mike Yang of supplier QCT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc., told Bloomberg Television in an interview.
INDIA
Citigroup sees focus on motor fuel prices ahead of polls in India
At the end of this year, assembly elections are scheduled to take place in five states, followed by Lok Sabha elections in early 2024.
BUSINESS
India to start critical mineral blocks auction process this year
The blocks are for minerals including nickel, lithium, cobalt and platinum, along with rare earths, Mines Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said in an interview in New Delhi.
BUSINESS
Some 80% of Indians Have Favorable View of Modi, Pew Says
The Russian war in Ukraine has turned India into a prominent swing nation, according to the report. It has maintained close ties with the US but avoided joining US-led sanctions against Russia, still a major supplier of weapons and energy.
WORLD
Huawei’s stealth phone launch energizes Chinese chip stocks
The Mate 60 Pro device, which appeared this week for sale online with little warning, generated buzz among Chinese users who saw in the gadget Huawei’s resurgence in the high-end market.
INDIA
Thailand mulls easing visa rules to lure Chinese, Indian tourists
Chinese — the largest group of visitors before the pandemic — face a costly and cumbersome visa-application process, which has has been a drag on the tally this year, according to the premier.
BUSINESS
Meta’s spending is now focused where investors want
The Reality Labs division in charge of realizing Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision is expected to have “meaningfully” greater losses this year than it did last year, the company has said.
BUSINESS
How a Small EV Maker Became More Valuable Than Ford and GM Combined?
On Aug. 15, unprofitable Vietnamese EV-maker VinFast, owned by the country’s richest man, made its debut on the Nasdaq Global Select Market index.
BUSINESS
China banks to cut rates on mortgages, deposits in stimulus push
The move would be the latest piecemeal step rolled out by Beijing as authorities try to spur consumer spending, drive more funds into the stock market and alleviate pressure on lenders.
BUSINESS
World’s Hottest Stock Evokes Memories of a $400 Billion Crash
VinFast’s $190 billion market capitalization is now bigger than half of the companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Walt Disney Co.
BUSINESS
Vedanta seeks to identify bondholders as $2 billion debt looms
Vedanta has engaged a corporate advisory firm Morrow Sodali to identify owners of notes that mature in January 2024, August 2024 and March 2025, according to a notice sent last week to bondholders and seen by Bloomberg News, but unconfirmed by the issuer.
BUSINESS
ITC chairman hopes India food export bans are short-lived
The company, a major wheat exporter, saw its agriculture business revenue decline 25% in the April-June quarter, hit by the export bans, according to its quarterly earnings presentation.
BUSINESS
Hindustan Zinc eyes jump in output under chair Agarwal Hebbar
The producer of zinc, used to galvanize steel to prevent rusting, said last week that it wants to grow its annual mined metal output to 1.5 million tons, from around 1 million tons now.
BUSINESS
India’s tight grip on rice exports puts wheat and sugar in focus
The curbs on rice now cover all varieties that the South Asian nation ships to overseas markets, further tightening global supply.
WORLD
World’s best large IPO of 2023 Is Indonesia miner with 150% gain
Shares of PT Amman Mineral Internasional, which owns the second-largest gold and copper mine in the Southeast Asian country, are up 153% since their debut on July 7. That’s the biggest gain among 32 IPOs that raised at least $500 million so far globally in 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
BUSINESS
FirstCry founder probed for alleged $50 million India tax evasion
The department, which India’s Ministry of Finance runs, has sent notices to founder Supam Maheshwari asking why he didn’t pay more than $50 million in taxes on equity transactions conducted in privately-held FirstCry, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public.
BUSINESS
Sugar heads toward two-month high on concern over Indian exports
India has ramped up restrictions on rice exports over the past few days as the nation tackles rising food costs before an election next year, prompting speculation about which commodity might be next.
AUTOMOBILE
Why the EV Industry is Talking About ‘Black Mass’
But “black mass” is just a very literal description of the intermediate product from recycling either spent electric-vehicle batteries or scrap from battery plants.
POLITICS
Modi weighs continuing free grains program into polls
Indian officials are proposing to extend a free grains program well into next year’s national election season, according to people familiar with the matter, a move likely to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reelection bid for a third term.
