India

The Indian Rupee opened marginally higher against the US Dollar at the start of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy week, with USD/INR ticking down to near 96.25 as traders trimmed hawkish Federal Reserve rate expectations. According to the CME FedWatch tool, the odds of the Fed leaving interest rates unchanged at this month's policy meeting have risen to 82.3% from 35.8% seen last week, after US Nonfarm Payrolls for September showed the economy created just 29K fresh jobs, below 90K estimates and a previous reading of 133K revised lower from 162K, while the Unemployment Rate rose to 4.2% and Average Hourly Earnings grew 3% year-on-year. Despite the cooler Fed bets, the US Dollar Index posted a fresh yearly high near 102.53 and 10-year US Treasury Yields held around 5.27%, not far from last week's two-decade high of 5.34%. The major trigger for the Rupee this week is the RBI's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, with analysts at MUFG/BTMU officially forecasting the central bank to keep rates on hold while calling for a hiking cycle to begin from December, seeing a good chance the RBI moves its stance away from neutral to signal a tightening bias. MUFG/BTMU forecast 50bps of rate hikes this cycle with some risk of 75bps in total, citing strong growth, abundant liquidity, picking-up credit growth, supportive fiscal policy, and upside inflation risk from higher commodity prices and adverse weather conditions in India.

Intuitive Surgical is leaning on expansion in India and Japan to counterbalance persistent headwinds in China, where only two da Vinci systems were placed in the second quarter. International da Vinci procedures rose 20% in the quarter, with Europe and Asia each delivering 20% growth, while China remained the primary regional drag due to lower tender activity, increased domestic robotic competition, policy-driven pricing pressure, changes in charge codes and the 15th Five-Year Plan quota process. Da Vinci 5 has yet to receive clearance in mainland China, but its clearance in India during the quarter should expand the company's ability to address demand with its latest-generation platform. In Japan, policies effective June 1 expanded reimbursement to additional robotic procedures and introduced economic incentives for higher utilization, and Intuitive Surgical placed 25 systems there versus 15 a year earlier, though adoption is expected to progress gradually given training requirements and ongoing financial challenges. Intuitive Surgical maintained its 2026 da Vinci procedure growth outlook of 13.5-15.5%, with international procedures outside urology among its primary growth drivers.

JPMorgan Chase & Co chief India economist Sajjid Chinoy expects the Reserve Bank of India to raise rates at its October 5 meeting and to strike a cautious or hawkish tone signaling more tightening may be in the pipeline. Speaking with Bloomberg Television's Paul Allen, Chinoy said inflation, which averaged 2% over the past year, will run close to 6% over the next quarter and stay between 5.5% and 6% in the first half of 2026, driven by pipeline pressures, higher energy prices, global tech inflation and building El Nino pressures. With policy rates at 5.25%, he said the first 50 basis points of hikes amount to normalization or recalibration to more normal inflation, and he expects a 25 basis point hike in October followed by one more in December. He said the length of the cycle depends on whether the RBI forecasts inflation falling quickly back to 5% or below after peaking at 6% in three quarters, and on how broad-based the inflation pressures become, including whether strong demand emboldens producers to pass pipeline pressures into output prices and makes core inflation sticky. Chinoy also said the large influx of FCNR flows gives India more ammunition against a hostile global backdrop but has created a liquidity overhang that leaves monetary conditions more accommodative than interest rate levels suggest, making it important for the RBI to hike next week, signal more may come, and aggressively sterilize those flows to prevent overnight rates falling below the policy rate.

Apple's payment service Apple Pay has launched in India, local partner Axis Bank announced on the 30th. India had been one of the few major countries where Apple Pay was unavailable. Axis is the first Indian bank to offer Apple Pay, initially for holders of Visa and Mastercard credit cards. According to the bank's statement, users can register an eligible card in the bank's mobile app or in Apple Wallet and then pay in stores, within apps, and online using an iPhone, Apple Watch, or iPad. Axis is India's third-largest private bank, and according to central bank data its credit card issuance stood at 16.3 million cards as of August, ranking fourth in the country. Reuters reported in September that Apple Pay was also in talks with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, both larger than Axis, but had not yet agreed on terms.

Foreign investors have sold a net 256.62 billion rupees, equivalent to 2.7 billion dollars, of Indian stocks in September. This is set to be the first net selling in three months, driven by rising crude oil prices and persistently high bond yields, which have dimmed the appeal of Indian assets. In September, the NSE index and the SENSEX index each fell about 5.7 percent. According to data from the National Securities Depository, as of the 29th, foreign investors had withdrawn 26.75 billion dollars in 2026, on track to set a record high on an annual basis. In addition to rising crude oil prices and global monetary tightening, foreign investors are shifting funds to markets rich in AI-related stocks, such as South Korea and Taiwan. Deelaj Gaur, chief investment strategist at Choice Wealth, said crude oil and geopolitics remain the main risks. He noted that rising crude oil prices immediately affect the current account, inflation expectations, and the rupee, making them a particularly big challenge for India.

NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, INC. signed a memorandum of understanding with the India Semiconductor Mission on Wednesday, September 9, for strategic cooperation to develop semiconductor logistics infrastructure and strengthen supply chains in India. The India Semiconductor Mission is an initiative overseen by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India and serves as a core agency leading infrastructure development for the country's semiconductor and display industries. The agreement formalizes a dialogue that included a visit by an India Semiconductor Mission delegation to the NX Group Building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, and the two parties will now share information and exchange views on transporting semiconductor-related cargo and on logistics infrastructure. The NX Group has set a target of increasing sales from its Indian operations to 60 billion yen by fiscal 2028 and plans to open a dedicated semiconductor logistics center in the Dholera area of Gujarat in 2027. The company said the cooperation supports India's semiconductor policy known as Semicon 2.0, which aims to build a complete ecosystem covering design, manufacturing, equipment and materials, and advanced packaging.

J.P. Morgan says $115 billion could flow into India's stock market as global investors seek to hedge their crowded AI exposure. The investment bank argues India, which makes up about 12% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, is emerging as a safe haven for those looking to diversify away from AI earnings power, citing fiscal and monetary policy aligned with steady economic growth. Rajiv Batra, head of Asia and co-head of Global Emerging Markets Equity Strategy at J.P. Morgan, said that when investors go looking for non-AI exposure, India increasingly becomes the default choice. J.P. Morgan noted that small- and mid-cap Indian companies led the expansion with earnings growth of at least 25% for six to seven consecutive quarters, followed by double-digit earnings growth at large-caps over two quarters, and that foreign investors are starting to buy shares in e-commerce, hotel, mining and healthcare sectors. The bank flagged oil as the biggest risk, saying Brent crude above $85 per barrel would begin to drag down economic growth, and it is also tracking global interest rates and El Niño for possible monsoon disruption and renewed inflation. India's economy expanded by 7.8% in the April to June quarter.

Suzuki Motor Corp aims to cut the development time for new vehicle models to 24 months by 2030, down from the current 40 to 48 months, in order to keep pace with the faster competition from Chinese automakers. CEO Toshihiro Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo on September 25 that Chinese automakers are extremely fast, forcing Suzuki to accelerate its development process to stay competitive. The shift reflects a global automotive industry trend in which Chinese brands such as BYD, Leapmotor and Xiaomi have become the new benchmark, replacing Japanese manufacturing efficiency or German precision, because Chinese manufacturers have shortened vehicle development times through software-driven development, rapid product updates and advances in battery technology. Suzuki, which withdrew from the United States market in 2012 and the Chinese market in 2018, now focuses on India as its main market, with plans to raise its vehicle production capacity in India to 4 million units a year by 2030 from fewer than 3 million currently, and it expects the Indian car market could grow to two or three times its current size over the coming decades.

Applied Materials has committed US$5b to India over the next decade, anchored by a 140 acre semiconductor research park. The announcement comes as the company's share price has climbed 76.39% year to date, with a 1 year total shareholder return of 138.91%, though the 90 day share price return is down 24.34%. Applied Materials closed at $474.25, while the most followed narrative framework places fair value at $627.66, implying the stock is 24% undervalued, and a separate discounted cash flow model estimates future cash flow value at $277.49. The company's broad portfolio and investments in local manufacturing infrastructure, including new Arizona and EPIC centers, position it to capture a greater share of global wafer fab buildouts, with over 100 new fabs or expansions tracked this year. Risks include reliance on China and a concentrated group of large chipmakers, where export restrictions or delayed fab projects could undermine the upbeat narrative.

The Indian government announced a reduction in basic customs duty rates on vegetable oil imports, covering both crude and refined oils, including palm oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil, in a bid to curb soaring prices ahead of the major festival season. Crude palm oil and crude soybean oil will see duties cut from 10% to 5%, while refined palm oil and refined soybean oil will drop from 32.5% to 27.5%. Crude sunflower oil will be reduced from 10% to 0%, and refined sunflower oil from 32.5% to 22.5%. When the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess and the Social Welfare Surcharge are included, the total effective import duty on crude palm oil and crude soybean oil will fall from 16.5% to 11%, and on crude sunflower oil from 16.5% to 5.5%. The tax cuts follow a nearly 20% rise in vegetable oil prices in India over the past year and are aimed at boosting consumption during the religious festival season between September and November. India currently relies on imports for about two-thirds of its total vegetable oil demand, sourcing from Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina, Russia, and Ukraine.

India's Sensex opened today at 74,272.40 points, down 555.85 points, or 0.74%, after crude oil prices surged past $100 a barrel following Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's declaration to the UN General Assembly that Iran will not yield to US pressure. Fourteen of the sixteen major sector indices fell in morning trade, with small-cap and mid-cap indices down 0.7% and 1% respectively, while banking and financial stocks dropped 1.5% and 1.8%. Banking and insurance shares led the decline after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India proposed a major overhaul of commission payout rules, capping commissions based on product complexity and phasing out the concentration of life insurance commissions in the first policy year in favour of payouts spread over the long term. Investors are also watching the trading debut of the National Stock Exchange of India, the country's largest bourse, with shares expected to rise only modestly, around 2% to 3%.

Bridge Green Upcycle and Hartree Partners have signed an eight-year commercial agreement for the purchase and marketing of lithium carbonate produced from recycled batteries, valued between $500m and $1bn at current market conditions. Under the deal, Hartree gains exclusive rights to market approximately 10,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate across all grades from Bridge Green's facilities, with an option to renew for an additional seven years. Hartree has also made an equity investment in Bridge Green as part of the company's bridge financing round, intended to support its planned expansion of battery recycling and critical mineral refining operations. Hartree battery and critical minerals head Landon Berns said critical minerals are a key pillar of Hartree's growth strategy, while Bridge Green founder and CEO Balki Iyer called the agreement a defining milestone toward a circular supply chain. Initial volumes of lithium carbonate for Hartree are anticipated in 2028, and Bridge Green's upcoming Series A funding round is expected to finance integrated refining facilities in India and the US.

Applied Materials plans to invest $5 billion in India over the next decade, expanding its research, supply-chain, and workforce capabilities as India tries to establish itself as a major semiconductor manufacturing hub. The announcement came at SEMICON India, where more than 600 companies from 52 countries participated, and follows India's commitment of more than $21 billion in semiconductor incentives, with domestic semiconductor consumption expected to reach $110 billion by 2030. India has already approved 12 semiconductor projects under its incentive program, though Reuters reported that India still has no large-scale chip fabrication facility in commercial production and that Tata Electronics' planned $10 billion fab in Gujarat has been delayed by nearly two years. The investment fits Applied's current growth cycle: in fiscal Q3 2026, revenue reached a record $9.12 billion, up 25% year over year, while gross margin rose to 50.3 percent and operating income increased to $3.08 billion, with record operating cash flow of $3.04 billion. Applied also faces geopolitical exposure, having paid $253 million in 2026 to settle a U.S. Commerce Department inquiry involving certain China shipments, and its fourth-quarter revenue forecast of $10.25 billion came with a roughly 50.4 percent margin outlook amid increasing competition.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said hyperscaler AI spending could reach $1 trillion next year, up from roughly $700 billion this year and about $300 billion last year. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 at the 11th annual JPMorgan India Conference, Dimon said that surge is boosting economic growth, adding what he called about a 1% increase to GDP each year, while potentially adding to inflation as companies hire workers, build factories and power plants, and buy equipment and materials. Over the longer term, he said AI could prove deflationary, calling it an unbelievable technology whose rapid expansion looks like it is going to continue, though he cautioned it is too early to pick winners and compared the moment to the internet bubble. On returns, Dimon said AI investments would not always come down to a straightforward calculation, noting that sometimes it is just table stakes. He also said heavy demand for capital from infrastructure, remilitarization and government deficits may be pushing interest rates higher, that there may be a market correction though he was unsure AI would be the cause, and that the Federal Reserve should stick to its 2% inflation target. Ahead of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Dimon said the two sides appeared to be making progress and should fully engage on trade, AI and security, and he urged India and the U.S. to return to the negotiating table and complete a trade agreement, saying Washington should account for India's refining needs on Russian oil purchases. He added that India's economy could grow to three times its current size over the next decade and that JPMorgan would keep building in the country.

Stellantis has acquired CK Birla Group's remaining stake in their Indian joint venture, giving the company complete ownership of manufacturing operations at Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. The stake, previously held by Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation Limited, or HMFCL, was transferred to Stellantis as part of the deal to consolidate ownership of Stellantis Automobiles India Private Limited, known as SAIPL. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the transaction was funded through foreign direct investment. Stellantis said India is a strategic market and that ownership of SAIPL provides a simplified governance structure, greater operational flexibility and stronger alignment with the company's global priorities. The joint venture between Stellantis and CK Birla Group was established in 2017, and manufacturing at the Thiruvallur plant began in 2021, producing the Citroën C3, ë-C3, C3 Aircross and Basalt models with localisation levels above 95%. Stellantis India CEO and managing director Shailesh Hazela said India remains a key pillar of Stellantis' growth strategy, with close to Rs110bn, or $1.14bn, invested in the country. The company plans to increase output at the Thiruvallur site by over 160%, rising from 16,000 units in 2026 to more than 43,000 units annually by 2028, while the plant's direct workforce of 610 is expected to more than double over the same period. Hazela told the Times of India that exports are projected to make up around 60% of the increased output, with the remaining 40% sold domestically; the facility currently exports vehicles to eight markets across four continents.

JPMorgan's global investment banking co-head Dorothee Blessing said dealmaking remains on track for a record year, with global M&A volume reaching 4 trillion dollars year to date. More than 50 mega deals above 10 billion dollars have been struck globally, and cross-border deals are up almost 49% year over year, while IPO issuance has risen more than 250% year over year and investment grade debt capital markets activity is up more than 30%. In India, Blessing said the bank holds an 8.5% market share across the region, and expects 60 to 65 billion dollars in IPO issuance alone, after roughly 100 billion dollars of M&A volume in the first half. She flagged inflation, higher energy prices, geopolitical tension and rates as the key risks, and said technology, AI, healthcare, diversified industrials and financial institutions should stay active sectors over the next three to six months.

Infosys announced on August 18 a long-term deal to manage the enterprise software of Knorr-Bremse AG, a maker of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, covering ERP, data platforms, engineering and product lifecycle tools and running on Infosys Topaz, the company's AI offering. The win lands alongside results Infosys posted on July 23, in which AI accounted for 8.2% of revenue in the quarter ended June 30 and large deal wins totaled $3.6 billion, 61% of it net new. Operating margin came in at 21.1%, within the 20% to 22% range Infosys kept for its FY27 guidance, and free cash flow reached $955 million, or 116.5% of net profit. Growth remains the weak spot: revenue rose 2.4% from a year earlier in constant currency and just 1.0% from the prior quarter, and Infosys revised its FY27 revenue guidance to a range of 1.5% to 3.0%. Earnings per share grew 14.9% in rupee terms, but basic EPS in dollars rose only 3.7% to $0.20, and the Knorr-Bremse announcement gave no contract value.

Suppajee Suthamphan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, disclosed the outcome of talks with the Ambassador of the Republic of India to Thailand, Puneet Agrawal, that Thailand and India will advance cooperation in a "Co-Creation Co-Investment" format across six potential sectors: herbs and pharmaceuticals, IT, processed food, green industry, automotive, construction, and the hospitality industry, in order to link into global supply chains rather than merely exporting goods to each other's markets. Both sides assigned the start of joint work and progress within 45 days to pilot a model. Most recently, five to six Thai investors have shown interest in cooperating with India under this concept, and the Indian Ambassador reported that Indian companies are preparing to invest in data centers in Thailand, with several already in joint ventures with Thai companies. Both sides agreed to use the JTC platform as a mechanism to monitor cooperation, with India proposing that the JTC meeting draw up a Plan of Action for the services sector. The two sides are in the process of linking India's UPI payment system with Thailand's PromptPay, and are discussing the possibility of using local currencies, the baht and the rupee, to facilitate trade and reduce costs. India is Thailand's seventh-largest trading partner in the world and its number one trading partner in South Asia. Over the seven months from January to July 2026, trade between Thailand and India was worth 13.97456 billion US dollars, expanding 8.07 percent from the same period the previous year, with Thailand exporting 10.27032 billion US dollars to India and importing 3.70424 billion US dollars from India.

GlobalData reports that influencers on X largely view India's new 0.4% Merchant Discount Rate on Person-to-Merchant Unified Payments Interface transactions above INR 2,000 ($20.8) as a vital step toward monetising the UPI ecosystem. Shreyasee Majumder, Social Media Analyst at GlobalData, said influencers see the levy as creating a durable revenue base for banks, acquirers and payment platforms, funding payment infrastructure, cybersecurity and credit-linked services, and improving the financial outlook for payment companies, including supporting public listing plans for PhonePe and lifting forward earnings forecasts for merchant platforms such as Paytm and Pine Labs. Influencers expect larger merchants above monthly turnover thresholds to absorb the fee, while peer-to-peer transfers, recurring payments and rural QR codes remain exempt, though some merchants may push cash payments or other means to recover the cost on higher-value transactions. Commentators including MobiKwik CEO Bipin Preet Singh, Moneycontrol Executive Editor Chandra R. Srikanth, Emerging Payments Association Asia Chief Expansion and Innovation Officer Monica Jasuja, research analyst Abhishek Kothari and Capitalmind Mutual Fund CEO Deepak Shenoy stressed that the new UPI levy remains substantially lower than traditional debit card charges of 0.90% and credit card charges of 1.5-2.5%. Kothari said he now explicitly incorporates UPI MDR monetisation into Paytm and Pine Labs estimates, assuming roughly 30% of Paytm's UPI GMV is MDR eligible versus about 70% for Pine Labs, with Paytm capturing around 10bps of the MDR pie and Pine Labs 6bp. Influencers cautioned that in the long term the ecosystem must ensure infrastructure and value-added service improvements outweigh merchant cost pressures to preserve widespread digital adoption.

Shares of Tata Group companies fell on the Indian stock market on the 18th, erasing a combined total of about $3.2 billion in market value. Sentiment was dented as a conflict over the possible listing of holding company Tata Sons and over its management structure came to the surface, deepening uncertainty. Tata Sons' board decided on the previous day, the 17th, to follow Reserve Bank of India rules that could require the company to list, and extended Chairman N. Chandrasekaran's term by five years. Core company Tata Consultancy Services fell 2.98%, Tata Chemicals plunged 9.57%, Tata Investment Corporation dropped 3.55%, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles slipped 3.15%, and Tata Motors eased 0.32%. According to a Reuters tally based on LSEG data, the combined market value of Tata Group's listed companies fell by about 302.22 billion rupees, or $3.16 billion, by noon on the 18th from a total of about $268.5 billion at the close on the 17th. Tata Trust, which owns 66% of Tata Sons, said after the close of trading on the 17th that it opposed both the move toward a listing and the chairman's reappointment, arguing that Chandrasekaran's reappointment is illegal under Tata Sons' articles of association.

Moody's Ratings has affirmed India's long-term government bond rating at Baa3 with a stable outlook, saying the rating reflects a balance between the size and diversity of India's economy and its high government debt burden, weak debt affordability and low per-capita income. At the same time, Moody's raised its forecast for India's economic growth in fiscal 2026-2027 to 7% from 6%, driven by stronger private consumption, infrastructure investment and continued strength in services activity, despite headwinds from the global economy. In its credit rating review report on India, Moody's said real GDP grew 8.2% year on year in the first six months of calendar 2026, up from 7.3% in 2025, and it expects India's economy to outpace other G20 countries as well as emerging markets with the same rating level. However, Moody's warned that a prolonged conflict in the Middle East could keep energy prices elevated and push inflation above its forecast of 4.8% for fiscal 2026-2027, while higher energy and fertilizer import costs could widen India's current account deficit. On the fiscal front, Moody's said the Indian government remains committed to reducing the central government's fiscal deficit to 4.3% of GDP in fiscal 2026-2027 from 4.4% a year earlier, although higher defense and infrastructure spending could constrain efforts to narrow the deficit.

India's meteorological department has reported that an intensifying El Niño is putting India at risk of its driest monsoon season in 17 years, after cumulative rainfall from June to September came in 15% below the long-term average. That could weigh on agricultural output and further stoke food inflation, which climbed to 5.95% in August. The report said that if dry conditions persist, this year's monsoon will be the weakest since 2009, when rainfall was 18% below normal, potentially affecting both the current harvest and the next planting cycle. Food costs rose for a seventh straight month in August. The meteorological office had forecast in May that rainfall this season would be 10% below normal. Christian Werner, managing director of the consultancy Global Weather Climate Analytics in Australia, said weather conditions could favor cyclone formation in the Bay of Bengal in the final week of September, which may help bring critically needed rain to eastern and northeastern India and ease drought conditions there. Adequate monsoon rainfall is crucial for the hundreds of millions of Indian farmers who rely on seasonal rains to grow their crops, with India among the world's largest producers of rice, sugar and cotton.

Spanish automotive supplier Gestamp anticipates India will become one of its five largest markets worldwide within five to six years, driven by expanded manufacturing, R&D and technology investment. Executive chairman Francisco J Riberas told ETAuto that Gestamp's India revenue, about €240m ($275.4m) last year against global sales of around €11bn, could double over the next five years after rising roughly 80% in the past five, subject to winning new customer contracts. The company is investing Rs5.24bn ($54.6m) in a new plant in Gujarat, initially planned around one hot-stamping line but enlarged to a second phase after customer orders were received; the facility will house two hot-stamping lines plus laser and assembly operations, focusing on structural parts such as door rings for regional vehicle manufacturers. The Gujarat plant adds to Gestamp's existing Indian operations, a chassis parts factory in Pune and a joint venture with Aditya Auto Products in Maharashtra producing hinges, checks and latches. Riberas said Gestamp is also looking at partnerships and acquisitions as supplier consolidation remains a possibility, has secured several EV contracts in India including battery box supply under a powertrain-neutral strategy, and expects pure EVs to account for around 10% of India's vehicle output over the next five years.

Micron Technology is expanding its global manufacturing footprint with a new $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in Gujarat, India, as demand for memory and storage accelerates alongside artificial intelligence. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Micron plans to scale production at the Sanand facility next year, giving the company additional capacity as AI workloads drive heavier demand for DRAM and NAND products. The facility represents a combined investment of roughly $2.75 billion from Micron and its government partners, and Micron has already begun commercial production at Sanand, with finished DRAM and NAND products now being shipped to customers globally. Speaking at SEMICON India 2026, Mehrotra said the Sanand site is the first semiconductor assembly and test facility in India and the first project under the India semiconductor mission, and that its production capacity already exceeds the amount of memory required for India's entire laptop market. The India expansion focuses on conventional assembly and testing while complementing Micron's planned investments in more advanced manufacturing and packaging capacity in the United States.

The large-scale semiconductor industry exhibition Semicon India began a three-day run on the 17th in New Delhi, the Indian capital. In his opening address, Tokyo Electron President Toshiki Kawai revealed that the company will cooperate with the Japanese government to contribute to the development of semiconductor talent and will establish a training center in the western state of Gujarat next year. More than 600 companies and organizations from Japan and abroad are exhibiting at the show, with Japanese firms including Advantest, Fujifilm, and NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, the holding company of logistics giant Nippon Express, also taking part. Prime Minister Modi, noting that semiconductor manufacturing normally takes decades, stressed that India is achieving results in chip design and manufacturing in a short period of time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched India as a new global hub for semiconductor production on Thursday, urging technology firms to invest in what he called a reliable location. Speaking at a semiconductor conference in New Delhi, Modi said chips from Indian plants are reaching customers in India and across the world, and he remotely opened commercial production for two sites, taking the number of semiconductor projects in commercial production in India to five. Representatives of Tata Electronics and CG Power, as well as Advantest, Applied Materials, ASML, Foxconn, Intel and Micron, were among those attending, and Modi met senior executives from Indian and global technology companies on Wednesday ahead of the conference. India in July approved a new semiconductor programme, offering more than $13 billion in financial assistance to expand domestic chip production and build a wider semiconductor ecosystem, building on a programme launched in 2021. Modi reiterated plans to train 100,000 engineers for semiconductor projects and 10 million people in artificial intelligence, and India's semiconductor market has expanded from $38 billion in 2023 to an estimated $45-$50 billion in 2024-25, with government targets of $100-$110 billion by 2030.

Touax reported first-half 2026 restated revenue from activities of €72.9 million, down 13% from €83.7 million a year earlier, and a Group share net loss of €4.2 million versus a €2.5 million profit in June 2025. Operating EBITDA fell 34% to €20.1 million and operating income dropped 70% to €4.4 million, while the financial result improved 8% to a negative €10.5 million. The decline spanned the group's divisions, with Freight Railcars revenue down 12% to €24.6 million, Containers down 14% to €34.5 million, and Miscellaneous and eliminations down 29% to €5.1 million, partly offset by River Barges revenue up 7% to €8.7 million. The company highlighted strategic milestones during the half, including Trinity Industries taking a 32% stake in Touax Rail India with an equity injection of more than €30 million, the renewal of Container asset-backed financing facilities for a committed $115 million over four years, and the refinancing of 2027 corporate debt through a €39 million Green Bond and a €44 million Green Loan, both with five-year maturities. Total equity Group share rose €0.8 million to €70.6 million, the consolidated cash position exceeded €66 million, and the Loan-to-Value ratio improved to 60.4% from 64.0% at the end of December 2025. Touax said Touax Rail India plans to use the Trinity capital to expand its fleet by 6,500 new railcars over the next three to five years.

Amazon's quick-commerce arm in India, Amazon Now, has crossed $1 billion in annualized gross sales over the trailing three months, a threshold the company calls the fastest scale-up of any e-commerce unit in its India history. According to Amazon India's own disclosure, orders have doubled every quarter since launch, with daily order volumes now around 700,000, giving the service roughly a 10% share of the quick-commerce market by orders and about 14% by value. The service has expanded fourfold in under ten weeks, reaching more than 60 cities and towns through a network of more than 750 micro- and urban-fulfillment centers, with Amazon targeting 100 cities by Diwali and 1,000 dark stores by year-end as part of a previously announced plan to cover over 300 cities nationally. The India push sits alongside broader momentum in Amazon's global numbers: for the second quarter of 2026, the company reported worldwide net sales of $200.6 billion, up 20% year over year, while its International segment, which includes India, posted net sales of $42.2 billion, up 15% year over year, with segment operating income rising to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion a year earlier. Amazon has also been testing a Hindi-language version of its generative-AI assistant, Alexa+, among Indian users, though no India launch date has been confirmed. The picture is not without caveats, as building and operating hundreds of dark stores is capital-intensive and Amazon entered India's quick-commerce race well after rivals such as Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto had already built scale.

India's Ministry of External Affairs filed a formal protest with Pakistan's envoy today after warships from the two countries collided in international waters last Tuesday. A Pakistani warship approached an Indian frontline vessel at high speed while the Indian ship was conducting a routine patrol, leading to the collision. India's Ministry of External Affairs said the impact did not cause serious damage, but that Pakistan's conduct was a complete violation of a 1991 agreement between the two countries, which requires their warships and submarines to maintain a distance of at least 3 nautical miles from each other to avoid accidents in international waters. India and Pakistan previously engaged in four days of intense military conflict last year before reaching a ceasefire agreement later on. Currently, neither country has an ambassador stationed in the other's capital, as diplomatic relations were downgraded following the 2019 Kashmir territorial dispute, leaving their diplomatic missions to be overseen by deputy chiefs of mission ever since.

Police in the western Indian state of Gujarat plan to seek an explanation from Google over gaps in its security measures, in connection with a case in which they busted a large network of fake Gmail accounts. One police official disclosed this to Reuters on the 15th. State police this week busted a wide-ranging criminal network accused of sending bomb threat emails to government agencies and others, and arrested two people. During the investigation, they identified 513,847 Gmail accounts and passwords that had been in operation since 2022. A senior official in the state police's cybercrime unit told Reuters that they would send a letter to Google seeking policy changes so that such security measures cannot be circumvented, and indicated a plan to formally designate Google as a subject of investigation. What police find particularly problematic is that two-factor authentication had been set up on each of the fraudulently created accounts, and they are also investigating how the criminal organization managed to set up and operate two-factor authentication on more than 500,000 accounts. The investigation was triggered by a bomb threat email received by the Gujarat state government on the 10th. The email was sent ahead of the BRICS summit held in New Delhi and threatened that countries cooperating with India would also be targeted, but according to police, all of the bomb threats were false.