Irish fintech Nomupay gets $40 mln investment from SoftBank
Irish fintech Nomupay said on Tuesday it had received a $40 million investment from an unit of SoftBank Corp at a valuation of $290 million to help it expand in Asian countries such as Japan.Nomupay started operations in 2021 after buying licences from payments company Wirecard, which collapsed a year earlier in Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal.Nomupay has since raised $120 million, with the last round of $37 million in January valuing it at $200 million."We will integrate the Japanese payment methods that are provided by SoftBank, which means the rest of the world can now access Japan, and then we will jointly expand into other markets," Nomupay CEO Peter Burridge told Reuters.Nomupay is a payment processor focusing on local and cross-border payments and operates in an industry dominated by the likes of Stripe and Adyen."We aim to be profitable by the end of the year," Burridge said.
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Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
Donald Trump tariff woes keep rupee near record low despite weak dollar
The rupee is hovering near record lows against the US dollar despite a sharp slide in the greenback this year. The domestic currency has fallen 2.3 per cent so far this calendar year, even as the dollar index — which tracks the greenback against six major peers including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and Swedish krona — has dropped 9.53 per cent. According to market participants, the rupee has stayed under pressure despite the weaker dollar as subdued capital inflows and external headwinds weigh on investor sentiment. Recent US tariff hikes of up to 50 per cent on Indian exports have heightened trade tensions, dented investor confidence, and spurred foreign portfolio outflows. 'It is only the tariffs, which is a concern right now. Otherwise, we (the rupee) typically weaken by 1 per cent to 2 per cent in a year. So, whatever excess weakness has happened is because of tariffs. We are expecting FY26 to close at an average rate of 87 per dollar,' said Abhishek Goenka, chief executive officer at IFA Global. Higher tariffs threaten India's export earnings, curbing forex inflows and thus boosting dollar demand in the local market. Additionally, the rupee lost carry trade appeal after the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly cut its policy rate by 50 basis points in June, a move that reduced forward premiums and left the currency more vulnerable to external shocks. Against the euro and pound, the rupee has dropped 12 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, this year. Analysts point to a shift of global capital toward developed markets, which are trading at record highs. Foreign portfolio investors have sold a net ₹10,147 crore of equities in this month (until Monday). 'The dollar index has softened, which means the dollar has weakened against other currencies like the euro and pound in the basket because of tariffs,' said the treasury head at a private bank. 'The rupee is under pressure because of the continuous outflow from equities,' he added. In early 2025, the euro and pound rallied as concerns over the US economic outlook prompted investors to rotate into European assets. The rupee hit an all-time low of 87.95 per dollar on February 10, before rebounding about 2.5 per cent by early July to 85.59 on improved trade sentiment, portfolio inflows and reduced speculative positioning. But renewed tariff worries, sustained capital outflows, and weakening sentiment in August pushed the rupee back toward its lows, trading between 87.80 and 87.88. RBI intervention in spot and non-deliverable forwards markets has so far capped losses below the 88 mark, according to market observers. On Monday, the rupee closed at 87.66 per dollar, unchanged from Friday. RBI data show the rupee's real effective exchange rate (REER) stood at 100.36 in June, against 101.12 in May. The REER adjusts the nominal effective exchange rate for inflation differentials with major trading partners, with values above 100 indicating relative appreciation that can erode export competitiveness. The central bank's intervention has come at a cost. Foreign exchange reserves fell $9.3 billion to $688 billion in the week ended August 1, the steepest weekly decline of 2025 and the biggest since November 2024. Of that, $6.9 billion came from spot market sales, while revaluation losses accounted for $2.1 billion.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Soybeans Jump as Trump Urges China to Quadruple US Buying
US President Donald Trump said he hopes China will massively step up its purchases of American soybeans, even as China has yet to book any cargoes for the upcoming season. Soybean futures in Chicago jumped as much as 2.8% on Monday, the biggest intraday gain in four months. Corn and wheat also rose. 'China is worried about its shortage of soybeans,' Trump wrote on the Truth Social website. 'I hope China will quickly quadruple its soybean orders. This is also a way of substantially reducing China's Trade Deficit with the USA.' Trump also thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the post, without saying why. The president's push comes a day before a trade truce expires, and is happening as US farmers are just weeks from their next harvest, boosting supplies available to sell. China is the world's top buyer of the oilseed and usually ranks as the biggest customer of American soy farmers, a trade valued at more than $12 billion in 2024. However, US government data as of late July show the Asian nation has refrained from booking any cargoes for the upcoming season that starts in September as tensions between the two sides linger. Soybean futures have been weighed down — touching the lowest level since April last week — on ample global supply and uncertainty over the trade negotiations. Trump's remarks brought fresh optimism that bilateral trade between China and the US could soon revive, with assets like Chinese equities also rising. Agriculture has been a key issue in the trade dispute, with China turning to crops from South America and elsewhere to meet its needs. But US soybeans have also gotten cheaper than Brazilian cargoes as the influx of fresh supply nears. Still, some questioned whether Trump's post would spur purchases of US soybeans from China, particularly without a trade deal in place. 'We don't see China buying US soybeans under the current tariff structure, but can't rule out good faith buying if a US/China trade deal gets done,' Terry Reilly, a Marex Group PLC. analyst, wrote in an note. At the same time, Trump's moves to boost US biofuels production could provide a significant domestic outlet for locally grown crops, limiting the amount of crops available for any shipments to China. AgResource Co. said Trump appeared to be challenging China and Xi, but was skeptical about the chances of success. 'ARC has our doubts that such a tactic will be successful, but it may offer a pathway for the Trump administration to extend existing tariffs for another 90 days,' it wrote in a note. Beijing faces an Aug. 12 deadline before its tariff truce with the US expires, though the Trump administration has signaled that is likely to be extended. Soybeans are a key element of the China's diet and livestock feed. The country has stepped up purchases of soybeans from its top supplier Brazil in recent months, and is also testing trial cargoes of soybean meal from Argentina, to secure supplies of the animal feed ingredient. This is typically the time of year when China's purchases begin shifting to the Northern Hemisphere. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the US Department of Agriculture to boost its outlook for the domestic harvest in a report due Tuesday. But despite Trump's comments, there is little sign that China is concerned about a soybean shortage, said Vitor Pistoia, senior grains and oilseeds analyst at Rabobank. If trade relations don't improve, the nation would be able to source its annual supply entirely from South America if necessary, bypassing the US, he said. 'When you add what Brazil has, what Argentina has,' with what Uruguay and Paraguay have, 'all those guys have enough to supply China,' he said in an interview. While China and the US have been trying to work out a trade deal, other issues have been complicating their relationship. Last week, China defended its imports of Russian oil, pushing back against US threats of new tariffs after Washington slapped secondary levies on India for buying energy from Moscow. And on Sunday, a social media account affiliated with state-run China Central Television that regularly signals Beijing's thinking about trade slammed an Nvidia Corp. chip's supposed security vulnerabilities and inefficiency. In July, the Trump administration reversed course to allow Nvidia to sell the H20 AI accelerator to China. With assistance from Pyotr Kozlov.
Economic Times
4 hours ago
- Economic Times
Global rush for real assets: Why India holds the winning hand
There are moments in the global markets when the signals become too significant to ignore. For India, this appears to be one of those times. Now the world's fourth-largest economy, India is on track to become the third largest by 2029. This growth has been fuelled by strong domestic consumption, which made up 57% of GDP in 2024, and a demographic dividend that continues to deepen. Household incomes have risen by 7.8% annually over the past decade, with projections suggesting an acceleration to 9.1% over the next 10 years. These trends point to greater spending power and rising aspirations, both of which support demand for high-quality real estate. India's working-age population is also expanding, and its labour force is becoming more educated and digitally capable. This is attracting both local companies and multinationals, many of which are establishing global capability centres that are evolving into innovation hubs. As a result, demand for commercial real estate is growing steadily in cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad. While many global office markets are still adjusting to post-pandemic dynamics, India's commercial real estate sector has shown resilience. Office rental yields in major cities have averaged 8.7%, among the highest globally. In 2024, the country's office rent growth hit a 14-year high and saw record levels of net absorption. International capital is responding to these signals. Japanese institutional interest in India has grown, as seen in Hines' trophy office joint ventures involving firms like Mitsubishi Estate, Sumitomo Corp and Daibiru. India's living sector is also evolving. Urbanisation, rising incomes, and changing household preferences have driven demand for larger, higher-quality homes with better amenities. In parallel, the industrial sector is seeing momentum from growing domestic consumption, rapid ecommerce expansion, and the "Made in India" initiative, particularly in local tech has accounted for around 9% of retail sales in India and is forecast to grow at about twice the rate of offline retail. Beyond supply chain reconfiguration, domestic manufacturing is emerging as a structural growth shifts are unfolding against a backdrop of powerful underlying forces - deglobalisation, demographic pressure, energy insecurity, and political bifurcation - that have been building over time like tectonic shifts. As these forces surface, the global landscape is transforming, becoming more fragmented and localised. India, with its scale, stability, and domestic growth engine, may be well positioned within this new said, real estate remains a local business. In India, regulatory frameworks, land acquisition processes, and development timelines can vary widely. Success often depends on strong local partnerships and the ability to manage projects from the ground up. The author is Managing Partner & Global CIO at Hines. He will be speaking at The Economic Times World Leaders Forum in New Delhi.
