DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

BENGALURU, Feb 25 (Reuters) - There are some disagreements over restructuring debt for distressed economies, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said on Saturday on the sidelines of a G20 meeting, adding that banning private cryptocurrencies should be an option. "On debt restructuring, while there are still some disagreements, we now have the global sovereign debt roundtable with consideration of all public and private creditors," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters after the roundtable she co-chaired with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Apart from restructuring debt, regulating cryptocurrencies is another priority area for India, which Georgieva agreed with. "We have to differentiate between central bank digital currencies that are backed by the state and stable coins, and crypto assets that are privately issued," Georgieva said. "There has to be very strong push for regulation... if regulation fails, if you're slow to do it, then we should not take off the table banning those assets, because they may create financial stability risk."

☆ India's push to regulate crypto gains IMF, U.S. support at G20
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationBENGALURU, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A push by Group of 20 (G20) president India to regulate cryptocurrencies gained support from both the International Monetary Fund and the United States on Saturday as finance chiefs of the bloc wrap up two-days of talks. "We haven't suggested outright banning of crypto activities, but it is critical to put in place a strong regulatory framework," Yellen said. Earlier, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters after co-chairing a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that banning crypto should be an option. The Reserve Bank of India has said that cryptocurrencies should be banned as they are akin to a Ponzi scheme. On Thursday, the IMF laid out a nine-point action plan for how countries should treat crypto assets, with point number one a plea not to give cryptocurrencies legal tender status.

BENGALURU, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The United States and China will hold deputy-level talks between their finance officials on Friday to discuss debt and other issues on the sidelines of a G20 finance meet in India, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday, ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors near Bengaluru, that communication between the United States and China was important for "the sake of the entire globe". China's Ministry of Finance and its central bank did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The United States has repeatedly criticised China over what it considers to be "foot-dragging" on debt relief for dozens of low-and middle-income countries including Sri Lanka. China, the world's largest bilateral creditor, urged G20 nations on Friday to conduct a fair, objective and in-depth analysis of the causes of global debt issues and to "resolve the problem in a comprehensive and effective manner."

☆ G7 raises Ukraine support to $39 bln for 2023, urges IMF programme by March
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-Flags are pictured during the first working session of G-7 foreign ministers in Muenster, Germany, November 3, 2022. Ukraine is hoping to clinch a $15 billion programme with the International Monetary Fund that will cover immediate financial assistance and support for structural reforms to underpin efforts at post-conflict rebuilding. "For 2023, based on the Government of Ukraine's needs, we have increased our commitment of budget and economic support to $39 billion," the statement said. The bloc's financial leaders have gathered in India's Bengaluru ahead of a meeting of financial chiefs of the Group of 20 (G20) nations. Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki also told reporters that the G7 needs to assess the effectiveness of current sanctions on Russia before deciding on further action.

☆ Bank of Japan to maintain easy monetary policy - governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks during a news conference after a meeting of G7 leaders on the sidelines of G20 finance ministers' summit on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, February 23, 2023. REUTERS/Samuel RajkumarBENGALURU, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan intends to maintain easy monetary policy and the government's energy assistance programme will hold down inflation, the central bank's governor Haruhiko Kuroda told a news conference at a G20 event on Thursday. The governor expects inflation to be below 2% for fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024, adding that Japan is no longer in a deflationary environment. Given that import prices have fallen, the Japanese government's energy assistance will aid in holding down inflation, Kuroda said. India is hosting the first major G20 event under its year-long presidency at the summer retreat of Nandi Hills near tech hub Bengaluru.

"India is not keen to discuss or back any additional sanctions on Russia during the G20," said one of the officials. "The existing sanctions on Russia have had a negative impact on the world." Japan's finance minister said on Tuesday that financial leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting to discuss measures against Russia. "Russia themselves want to discuss the economic impact of sanctions." However, neither the Russian finance minister nor the central bank chief were expected to attend the meeting and they will be represented by their deputies.

[1/2] The Gateway of India monument in Mumbai is lit up to mark India's G20 presidency on December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File PhotoBENGALURU, Feb 22 (Reuters) - India does not want the Group of 20 nations to discuss additional sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine during New Delhi's one-year presidency of the bloc, six senior Indian government officials told Reuters. "India is not keen to discuss or back any additional sanctions on Russia during the G20," said one of the officials. "The existing sanctions on Russia have had a negative impact on the world." India has also sharply raised purchases of oil from Russia, its biggest supplier of defence hardware.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from G20 nations will join the meeting on Friday. The meeting in the Nandi Hills summer retreat is the first major event of India's G20 presidency and the war in Ukraine is likely to feature prominently during the proceedings. The G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs are also expected to discuss unblocking debt restructuring for distressed economies that have been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and German Finance Minister Christian Lindner will be attending the meetings and are expected to press China to "quickly deliver" on debt relief for low and middle income countries. However, neither the Russian finance minister nor the central bank chief were expected to attend the meeting and they will be represented by their deputies.

☆ Investors and techies gather in San Francisco to bathe in generative A.I. hype sparked by ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

They were there to discuss the latest craze capturing the attention of the tech world: generative artificial intelligence. The underlying AI software powering ChatGPT, a kind of machine-learning technology known as a "large language model," isn't new. As Bessemer Venture Partners' Sameer Dholakia told audience members, generative AI could change "the lives of billions of people." Blackwell credits OpenAI and ChatGPT with showing people what's possible with generative AI, shining a spotlight on the industry at large. But for one day in San Francisco, generative AI was more than just a tool.

NEW DELHI, Feb 16 (Reuters) - G20 finance and central bank chiefs meet in India next week at the first-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine to discuss rising debt troubles among developing countries, the regulation of cryptocurrencies and the global slowdown. The Feb. 22-25 meeting in the Nandi Hills summer retreat near Bengaluru is the first major event of India's G20 presidency and will be followed by a March 1-2 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi. As global borrowing costs rise, India - whose neighbours Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all sought International Monetary Fund support in recent months - wants to put debt relief at the forefront of discussions at the finance talks. "Crypto assets are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage," India's Ministry of Finance told parliament this week. Neither the Russian finance minister nor the central bank chief were expected to attend the meeting.

China and other G20 countries were aware that India was working on a proposal, the officials said. "China takes the debt issue of developing countries seriously and supports relevant financial institutions to put forward solutions," he said. The People’s Bank of China and the Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. New Delhi expects the United States to be one of the main backers of its proposal, said one of the sources. India and the Paris Club of creditors recently told the IMF they supported Sri Lanka's debt restructuring plan as the bankrupt nation sought a $2.9 billion loan.

☆ Adani crisis: Modi's party has 'nothing to hide', says India home minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Sudipto Ganguly | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] BJP President Amit Shah and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are seen after the election results in New Delhi, India, May 23, 2019. The Adani group has denied the allegations and threatened legal action against Hindenburg. Without referring to Adani, Modi told parliament last week that the "blessings of 1.4 billion people in the country are my protective cover and you can't destroy it with lies and abuses", as opposition lawmakers chanted "Adani, Adani". Adani Power (ADAN.NS) and Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) fell too in a wider Mumbai market (.NSEI) that was up slightly. India's Economic Times daily reported on Tuesday that Adani group executives had been holding negotiations since last week with Abu Dhabi's International Holding Corp (IHC) for capital infusion into Adani Enterprises or other group entities.

☆ Valentine's Day chocolate boxes look big, but have more plastic than ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Dworsky said his research shows the over-sized boxes deceive consumers into believing there’s more chocolate inside when there isn’t. Dworsky bought a 9.3-inches wide and 10-inches high Whitman's Sampler heart-shaped chocolate box, with 11 pieces of chocolate inside. Dworsky said a reader alerted him to the chocolate boxes a few days ago and sent him evidence of a heart-shaped Whitman’s chocolate sampler box. Swiss chocolate company Lindt & Sprüngli, which owns Russell Stover, Whitman’s and Ghirardelli brands, referred requests for comment to Russell Stover Chocolates. He said Dworsky had reached about to him about his most report looking at the Russell Stover and Whitman’s chocolate candy boxes.

BENGALURU, Feb 13 (Reuters) - India wants to more than triple annual defence exports to $5 billion by 2024/25 from $1.5 billion currently as it looks to ramp up domestic manufacturing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday while inaugurating the Aero India show. "Today, India is not just a market for defence companies, it is also a potential defence partner," Modi said in his speech at the show. "I call on India's private sector to invest more and more in the country's defence sector." India, for decades one of the world's biggest importers of defence equipment, now exports to 75 countries, he added. India's airlines are also expanding, with Tata Group's Air India expected to announce a potentially record deal to buy nearly 500 jets from Airbus and Boeing, worth more than $100 billion at list prices.

NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s enormous popularity remains intact despite the biggest political attack on him in years as rivals accuse his government of giving undue favours to the Adani Group, approval ratings showed on Friday. Without referring to Adani, Modi told parliament this week that the "blessings of 1.4 billion people in the country are my protective cover and you can't destroy it with lies and abuses", as opposition lawmakers chanted "Adani, Adani". Data from polling agency C-Voter, shared with Reuters, seems to suggest support for the prime minister has not waned, although the survey did not refer to the Adani issue. Almost half of those surveyed until Feb. 5 were "very much satisfied" with Modi’s work as prime minister and a further 30% said they were "satisfied to some extent". Rivals accuse Modi and the BJP of longstanding ties with the apples-to-airports Adani Group, going back nearly two decades when Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat.

☆ Iran OPEC official sees oil rebounding to $100/bbl in H2
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Nidhi Verma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Global oil prices may rebound to about $100 per barrel in the second half this year as Chinese demand recovers while supply remains limited, Iran's OPEC representative Afshin Javan said on Wednesday. "I think OPEC is moving in right direction," Javan told reporters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week, referring to the group's decision in December to cut production. "Why OPEC did it was because it was not very optimistic about the demand side," Javan said. Iran is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) although its oil exports are subjected to U.S. sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear programme. On Monday, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais also defended the group's decision to cut production, adding that the move helped stabilise global oil markets.

The central bank said that its policy stance remains focused on the withdrawal of accommodation, with four out of six members voting in favour of that position. Reuters GraphicsThe monetary policy committee (MPC), comprising three members from the central bank and three external members, raised the key lending rate or the repo rate (INREPO=ECI) to 6.50% in a split decision. We have to remain unwavering in our commitment to bring down CPI headline inflation," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, while announcing the committee’s decision. In a poll conducted ahead of the federal budget on Feb. 1, more than three-quarters of economists, 40 of 52, had expected the RBI to raise the repo rate by 25 bps. Das said that the inflation-adjusted, real interest rate remains below the pre-pandemic levels and liquidity remains surplus, even though it is lower than during the pandemic.

☆ India's Adani Green posts surge in quarterly profit on higher power supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Feb 7 (Reuters) - India's Adani Green said on Tuesday its profit jumped more than two-fold in the third quarter, as the total power it supplied to customers increased. Consolidated profit of Adani Green rose to 1.03 billion rupees ($12.45 million) in the October-December quarter, from 490 million rupees a year ago. Revenue of power producers such as Adani Green gets a boost as the size of their portfolio with long-term deals increases. Adani Green said on Tuesday it had commissioned 1,915 megawatts in new power projects in the current financial year. Its total income rose to 22.58 billion rupees from 14.71 billion rupees a year earlier.

☆ India's government has nothing to do with Adani issue - minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The Indian government has nothing to do with the issues of the Adani Group whose shares have tumbled following a scathing report from a U.S. short seller, the minister of parliamentary affairs said on Friday. "The government has nothing to do with Adani matters," Pralhad Joshi told reporters. Reporting by Nigam Prusty, writing by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. FDA says India-made eye drop linked to some infections, blindness and one death
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The agency said on Thursday that Artificial Tears eye drop manufactured by India's Global Pharma Healthcare Pvt Ltd has a potential bacterial contamination and the company has violated current good manufacturing practices. Global Pharma Healthcare did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment on the FDA statement. EzriCare said in a statement on Wednesday that it had stopped further distribution and sale of the eye drop, and it was not aware of any testing that "definitively links" the bacterial outbreak to the product. It said that as of Jan. 31, the CDC had identified 55 patients in 12 states with infections linked to the use of Artificial Tears distributed by EzriCare, it said. "Associated adverse events include hospitalization, one death with bloodstream infection, and permanent vision loss from eye infections," the FDA said.

☆ India to focus on growth, jobs in last full budget before 2024 election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds up a folder with the Government of India's logo as she leaves her office to present the federal budget in the parliament, in New Delhi, India, February 1, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan AbidiNEW DELHI, Feb 1(Reuters) - India will focus on economic growth and job creation, the finance minister said on Wednesday presenting the government's last full budget in parliament before a general election due next year that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is projected to win. The aim is to have strong public finances and a robust financial sector for the benefit of all sections of the country, Nirmala Sitharaman said. She added that despite a global slowdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the Indian economy was "on the right track". Sitharaman is expected to lower the government's fiscal deficit while announcing spending and other measures to keep India as one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world.

☆ India's Adani ditches $2.5 bln share sale after $86 bln rout
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (Reuters) - India's Adani Enterprises Ltd (ADEL.NS) on Wednesday withdrew its $2.5 billion secondary share sale after Adani Group shares plummeted on concerns raised by a U.S. short-seller. * Anchor investors Maybank Securities and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority pick up stake in Adani Enterprises' share sale, India's largest follow-on public offering (FPO). * Indian shares fell to their lowest level in more than a week, dragged lower by Adani Group stocks. * Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group founded by billionaire Gautam Adani, begins its $2.5 billion FPO for retail investors. JAN 31* Adani Enterprises' FPO fully subscribed as investors pumped funds into the share sale, despite the rout in the group's stocks.

☆ Growth trajectory of Adani Group's underlying businesses not affected - CFO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The growth trajectory of the underlying businesses of Adani Group has not been affected by the Hindenburg Research report that sparked a $48 billion rout in its stocks, Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh said on Monday. Speaking to local media, Singh said retail subscription would see "some pull back" in a $2.5 billion secondary share sale of the group's flagship company, Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS). Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Adani Group CFO says stocks rout similar to colonial-era massacre
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Krishna N. Das | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasNEW DELHI, Jan 30 (Reuters) - India's Adani Group has said a U.S. short-seller's report on the business house was a "calculated attack" on the country and its institutions while a senior executive has compared a rout of its stocks with a colonial-era massacre. Adani's finance chief, Jugeshinder Singh, likened the behaviour of Indian investors participating in the sell-off to the colonial-era Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar city. Hindenburg said in a statement on Monday that the Adani Group was trying to "lead the focus away from substantive issues and instead stoked a nationalist narrative". "In short, the Adani Group has attempted to conflate its meteoric rise and the wealth of its chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself," it said. Jawhar Sircar, a lawmaker from the opposition Trinamool Congress, posted on Twitter: "Since when is Adani = India?"

☆ U.S. Warns Banks to Watch for Russian Oligarchs Investing in Commercial Real Estate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Banks should be on alert for Russian oligarchs attempting to circumvent U.S. sanctions by investing in commercial real estate, a U.S. Treasury Department watchdog said. Sanctioned individuals may try to use pooled investment vehicles or offshore funds to avoid due-diligence processes, FinCEN said in its alert. Sanctioned individuals could keep lowering their stakes to avoid detection, while still maintaining control of the fund, FinCEN said. Sanctioned individuals aren’t just investing in high-end or luxury properties, according to the alert. Federal prosecutors have warned that lawyers, consultants and other service providers who work for sanctioned individuals could run afoul of the law.

Search resuls for: "DAS"

25 mentions found