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The Wire
20-07-2025
- Business
- The Wire
Fifth Round of US Trade Talks End, Indian Team Comes Back: Report
New Delhi: Indian negotiators are coming back from the fifth round of trade talks with their US counterparts. According to a news report by BusinessLine, the latest round of talks held from July 14-17 focussed on sorting out aspects such as tariff cuts in agriculture and automobiles. Talks may continue through the virtual mode for some time, BusinessLine quoted unnamed sources as saying. Per the report, India is looking to get the US to remove the additional tariff of 26% that it recently imposed on India, and also easing extra tariffs on steel and aluminium (50%) and the auto (25%) sectors that the US has imposed so far. India has also reserved its right under the World Trade Organization norms to impose retaliatory duties. Apart from issues related to agriculture and automobiles, aspects dealing with non-market economies, and SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies) also came up for the latest discussions, per the news report. India is also seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors, such as textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas in the proposed trade pact. Hindustan Times quoted sources as saying that the negotiations are being held based on two formally agreed frameworks. One is the joint statement of February 13 that proposed a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025, and the other is the terms of reference (TORs) agreed between India and the US on April 21 during US Vice-President JD Vance's India visit. India's trade talks are being led by special secretary in the department of commerce, Rajesh Agrawal. The negotiations aim to finalise an interim trade deal before August 1, when the suspension period of the tariffs imposed by the US ends. On April 2, US President Donald Trump had announced reciprocal tariffs for several countries with which the US had a trade deficit with. Trump later suspended the tariffs till July 9, except for a baseline tariff of 10%. Finally the US announced a reciprocal tariff of 26% on India's exports to the US.
Euronews
01-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Tashkent: Euronews launches its new office in Central Asia
On June 30, a symbolic day for the country celebrating Youth Day, Euronews officially opened its regional office in a move that indicates the strengthening of its presence in Central Asia as it creates a new platform for media development. The event's first part took place inside the brand-new Euronews office in Tashkent. During the office tour, the Press Secretary of the President of Uzbekistan, Sherzod Asadov, met with the local editorial team and praised the work already accomplished in a short time. The opening ceremony brought together more than 100 guests, including senior government officials, ambassadors, and representatives of international organizations. As noted by the Chairman of the Euronews Board of Directors, Pedro Vargas David, the office will become a unique media bridge, because Euronews is not just an information platform, but also a space for intercultural dialogue and interaction. "Our office is driven not by borders, but by interesting stories. So we look for them here and bring them to the whole world. We are extremely interested in economic reforms, how the country is developing and presenting itself to the whole world," Vargas added. 'The liberalization of the information sphere is one of the priorities of New Uzbekistan. Thanks to the political will of the president, we have made significant progress in strengthening journalistic freedoms, expanding access to information, and encouraging open dialogue between media, society, and the state', Asadov stated. He added that the Euronews presence in Uzbekistan will serve as a key tool in helping young people access objective, global perspectives and foster critical thinking. The Euronews Tashkent team has already hit the ground running. Local journalists and producers have been working to create content across a variety of flagship formats including 'Focus', 'Silk Road Adventures','Changemakers', 'Business Line'. These programs are not only telling the story of Uzbekistan's past and present, but also its aspirations for the future, through the voices of those making a difference on the ground.
Mint
24-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Mutual funds turn out to be aggressive buyers via bulk and block deals: Report
Mutual funds are turning out to be aggressive buyers in the bulk and block deal space over the past three to four months, capitalising on discounted valuations and growing market volatility, reported Business Line. This strategic shift allows them to acquire large quantities of shares without triggering price distortions. Among the top 20 bulk and block deals so far this year, mutual funds have participated in four, with SBI MF, ICICI MF and HDFC MF leading the charge. An analysis of deals since January shows domestic funds accounted for 20 percent of the top transactions, primarily where promoters or private equity players were offloading stakes. SBI Mutual Fund invested ₹ 12,303 crore while ICICI MF pumped in ₹ 4,232 crore, followed by Kotak MF and Motilal Oswal at ₹ 2,578 crore and ₹ 2,156 crore respectively, according to Prime Database. That all the four fund houses restricted their investments to 10 deals shows their selective approach to entering these deals. Pranav Haldea, MD, Prime Database Group, said the steady rise in bulk and block deals points to sufficient liquidity in the hands of investors even as it boosts foreign investors' confidence in Indian markets in terms of ease of exit (and entry). Typically, large institutional investors find it convenient to take the block deal route as they can take a position in a stock at a known price without the fear of impact cost. The MF industry has been requesting SEBI to increase the cap on discount over the previous day's closing price that can be offered under block deals, said Haldea. Swapnil Aggarwal, Director, VSRK Capital, said MFs prefer bulk and block deals 'to strategically accumulate quality stocks with less volatility and better pricing control'. Anil Rego, Founder and Fund Manager, Right Horizons PMS, said block deals — executed during special trading windows at predetermined prices — help MFs avoid market volatility and price slippage when making large investments. Passive funds also stand to benefit as SEBI's proposed third block deal window during the closing auction session could help them reduce tracking errors, he said. For all personal finance updates, visit here
Mint
30-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Investment of mutual funds in NSE firms touches a record high of 10 per cent: Report
The ownership of mutual funds (MFs) in listed companies scaled a record high of 10 per cent in fiscal 2025 and indicated the first double digit reading. In the March quarter, mutual funds infused ₹ 1.9 lakh crore into equities, contributing to a record annual net inflow of ₹ 6.1 lakh crore, reported Hindu Business Line. Passive funds within mutual funds also hit a peak share of 2 per cent. Individuals' holding, directly and through mutual funds, remained steady at a record high of 18 per cent of the market with a current holding of ₹ 74.5 lakh crore, a compounded annual growth rate of 17 per cent over five years, according to the NSE Market Pulse report released on Thursday. However, individual investors' direct ownership dipped to 9.5 per cent, suggesting growing popularity of MFs as a preferred vehicle for equity investment by retail investors. Akshat Garg, AVP, Choice Wealth, said individual investors are increasingly channelling incremental money into mutual funds and the shift has been structural, not cyclical, wrote Business Line. The surge in SIP flows, especially from tier-II and -III cities, reflects growing investor maturity, but at the same time, direct equity investing has become more volatile and time-consuming, prompting retail investors to delegate that complexity to fund managers, he added. Strong performance of Indian equities, coupled with rising participation, has resulted in a significant increase in household wealth over the last few years. 'Our estimates suggest that the household wealth in Indian equities increased by over ₹ 46 lakh crore in the last five fiscal years,' said the report. Since June 2021, with a strong SIP-led inflows, MF ownership in NSE-listed firms has climbed steadily, reaching all-time highs. Meanwhile, investors pumped money into debt mutual funds in April as they sought lower-risk options to ride out the market volatility and to rebalance their portfolios at the start of the financial year, taking net inflows into these funds to the highest in over two decades. Net inflows into debt-oriented open-ended mutual fund schemes were at ₹ 2.19 trillion in April—the highest since January 2005, from when this data is available. The net inflows marked a sharp reversal from March, when debt-oriented schemes witnessed outflows of ₹ 2.02 trillion. For all personal finance updates, visit here
Mint
22-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
India halts ₹5,000-crore cross-border rail projects amid Bangladesh unrest; new routes via Nepal, Bhutan eyed: Report
Citing political unrest in Bangladesh and safety concerns for workers, India has halted a series of cross-border railway projects aimed at linking the seven northeastern states with the mainland via the neighbouring nation, a media report said. Nearly ₹ 5,000 crore worth of project funding and construction activities have been suspended, halting at least three active projects and survey work on five others, reported The Hindu Business Line. The railway projects were crucial for linking northeastern states through Bangladesh's railway network and were aimed at easing dependence on the narrow Siliguri Corridor, which links the region to mainland India. The stalled railway projects are Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link and Khulabura-Sahabajpur rail line laying; Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line; and the Dhaka–Tongi–Joydebpur rail expansion project. The Akhaura–Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link project was going on with India's assistance of nearly ₹ 400 crore extended to Bangladesh. It is 12.24 km long, with a 6.78 km dual-gauge rail line in Bangladesh and 5.46 km in Tripura. The Khulabura-Sahabajpur rail line, part of the Akhaura–Agartala project, was intended to improve connectivity to Assam. The Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line project, being developed under the concessional Line of Credit with a total project cost of $388.92 million ( ₹ 3,300 crore), entails the construction of approximately 65 km of broad-gauge rail route between Bangladesh's Mongla Port and the existing rail network in Khulna. The Dhaka-Tongi-Joydebpur railway expansion project, due for completion in June 2027, has seen delayed execution of less than 50 per cent till last year, the Business Line report said. New Delhi is exploring alternative routes through Bhutan and Nepal to bolster rail infrastructure in North India. ' ₹ 3500 – 4000 crore connectivity plan through Bhutan and Nepal is being explored, but construction work on the Indian sides is going on as planned,' the report said, citing sources.
