From the outcome of the general elections and then Union Budget to tepid corporate earnings in the September 2024 quarter (Q2-FY25), sticky inflation and Reserve Bank of India's stance on interest rates, extreme weather conditions, Indian stock markets have braved it all in calendar year 2024.
Saturday's Quad meeting in Delaware is taking place against the backdrop of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, its sabre-rattling in the Taiwan Strait and increasing footprints in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, asserts Rup Narayan Das.
Taiwan has been comparatively successful in containing the spread of the virus, reporting to date 388 cases and six deaths in a population of around 24 million. No fans were allowed in the 20,000-seater stadium to watch the Lions win 4-1, with health concerns limiting attendees to a total of 200 players, coaches, umpires, cheerleaders and journalists, local media reported.
The ratio of market capitalisation to gross domestic product (GDP) in India remains elevated despite the recent correction in the equities markets. It was 147.5 per cent on December 3, 56 per cent higher than the 10-year average of 94 per cent. The current ratio is slightly lower than the all-time high ratio of 154 per cent at the end of September this year.
Biden and Xi shook hands and greeted each other with smiles, standing in front of a row of US and Chinese flags.
The state is in the process of grooming a supplier ecosystem, for which India is almost entirely dependent on imports.
India schedule for the seventh day of the Paris Paralympics on Wednesday. Bhavina Patel, is aiming to upgrade her Tokyo silver medal to gold in Paris.
The 'One-China' policy states that Taiwan and Tibet are part of China's mainland.
'Geopolitics will be the most important driver of financial markets in 2025.'
India's schedule on Day 7 of the Paris Olympics on Friday.
Tata Sons will likely choose Singapore as a "key partner" for its semiconductor plans, a senior minister from the city-state said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier in the day, Singapore's minister for home affairs and law K Shanmugam said semiconductors was a "big discussion" point during the meeting. "If they (Tatas) want to, they can do business with anybody in the world.
The rally in Indian mid-and smallcap indices thus far in calendar year 2024 (CY24) has been the best in class across the world, eclipsing the global FTSE benchmarks, and also out running peers from other leading world stock markets. This is despite the correction in the mid-and smallcap segments back home seen in the last few days, triggered by valuation concerns, geopolitical developments amid nervousness ahead of the July - September 2024 (Q2-FY25) corporate results season.
United States President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic telling leaders of the Quad nations that China was testing them, thus reflecting upon the American seriousness of the emerging Chinese threat.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory and called for China and the United States to find the right way to manage the differences by strengthening dialogue and communication.
China has stayed on top for two consecutive months in the MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (EM IMI), after ceding the position to India in August. At the end of October, China's weight in the key EM gauge stood at 24.72 per cent, up from 21.58 per cent at the end of August. India's weight during this period has slipped to 20.42 per cent from 22.27 per cent.
'Even though as Xi will seemingly continue to stay in power beyond his third term, competitions for the post-Xi leadership would be inevitably unfolded beneath the surface of water, and that will be a big headache for Xi the dictator.'
The photo published by the People's Liberation Army Air Force showing a long-range strategic bomber flying within visible range of Yushan, Taiwan's highest mountain, has caused great concern in Taiwan amid debate about whether the mainland will reunify the island by force, state-run Global Times reported.
331,602 Indians are studying in the US, making India the 'top sender' of international students to America for the first time in 15 years, as it overtook China for the academic year 2023-2024.
Taiwan reopened baseball games to a limited number of fans on Friday for the first time since controls were imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, part of government efforts to slowly allow normal life to resume. Taiwan has been relatively successful at controlling the virus, with 440 cases to date and 6 deaths, with only 85 active infections, thanks to early prevention and detection efforts.
India's stock markets are experiencing a shift in investor sentiment, with a 30 per cent surge in Chinese stocks, prompting investors to move money from domestic markets to China. This reversal of fortunes is a notable change from the past three years, where China's losses benefited India.
Trumponomics, poor growth, and high valuation certainly don't make a bullish recipe for Indian markets, warns Debashis Basu.
Lisa Curtis, who served as deputy assistant to President Trump and as National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021, said she expected the same bumps for India and the US, as in Trump's first term, including tariff, dependence on Russia over arms supply and oil purchase from Iran. Curtis, however, said both countries could never enter an alliance but develop a partnership that is "short of an alliance". She hoped them to achieve a cooperation that deters China, but also prepares both countries in case of a crisis or conflict, be it in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, or another flare-up on the India-China border.
China, which is the second highest spender on defence after the United States, has allocated 1.67 trillion yuan (about USD 232 billion) for defence spending.
Biden said America is in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China.
The two boxers had failed gender tests at World Championships in New Delhi last year
Algeria's Imane Khelif, a silver medallist at the 2022 World Championships, and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting have been in the spotlight at the Paris Games amid a gender dispute that has dominated headlines.
Tata Group is in discussions with some major international companies, including those from Taiwan, for its foray into the semiconductor chip business. The Union government had earlier tried to bring in Taiwanese manufacturers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) for chip manufacturing in India. A person close to the development said the Tatas have now opened a separate channel for a possible tie-up. Currently, India mostly imports chips, which are fabricated and assembled to put into various applications, including automobiles, renewable power, mobile phones, televisions, and other electronic items.
India's export of fuels like diesel to the European Union jumped 58 per cent in the first three quarters of 2024, with a bulk of them likely coming from refining discounted Russian oil, according to a monthly tracker report. The EU/G7 countries in December 2022 introduced a price cap and an embargo on the imports of Russian crude oil in a bid to cripple Kremlin's revenue and create a vacuum in its funding for the invasion of Ukraine.
The highly-anticipated summit, which began early Tuesday, is the third engagement between Xi, 68, and Biden, 78, since February.
India is far behind global competitors such as Vietnam, Taiwan, and Mexico in increasing electronics exports to the US by making the most of Washington's tariff action against China. In 2018, the US imposed a 25 per cent punitive duty on a range of Chinese electronics items. The trade duties led to a sharp fall in Chinese electronics exports to the US from $207 billion in 2018 to $140.2 billion in 2019, down 32 per cent, according to Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) data, which has been analysed by ITC Trade Map.
The recent stimulus measures announced by China have seen most analysts sit up and take notice.
Hsieh Su-wei and Jan Zielinski won their second mixed doubles Grand Slam title of the year at Wimbledon by beating the Mexican duo of Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos 6-4, 6-2 in a one-sided final on Sunday.
'Investors looking at the next 6-12 months can be certain that the Fed will maintain its easing cycle, and we expect the overall environment to be conducive for fixed income investments for portfolio diversification.'
The overall average package offered during IIT Bombay placements 2023-2024 stood at Rs 23.5 LPA. 22 students accepted offers with annual packages exceeding Rs 1 crore.
China had raised concerns about Taiwan being described as a separate region by various airlines worldwide.
Due to the prevailing geopolitical situation, like-minded countries are collaborating with India to make it a major semiconductor manufacturing destination, a top Electronics and IT ministry official said on Sunday. In an interview with PTI, Ministry of Electronics and IT Secretary S Krishnan said pilot facilities of US storage semiconductor maker Micron and Tata Electronics have already rolled out chips, and their main plants in Gujarat will begin to produce made-in-India chips from the later part of 2025.
In a sign of the expanding Apple supplier ecosystem in India, American multinational Jabil Inc will set up an electronics manufacturing facility in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore. Jabil is one of the 14 Apple suppliers in India, of around 200 globally, while another 14 have reportedly received preliminary clearance to form joint ventures with Indian companies to set up facilities. Interestingly, of the 14 existing manufacturing units in the Apple supply chain, seven are already in Tamil Nadu.
Ever since the Quad started taking shape in 2007, China has been saying that the four-member grouping will be bound to fail. But much to the chagrin of Beijing, it picked up pace in the recent years emerging as a premier strategic group especially challenging China's assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
'India needs many more job creators, both in manufacturing and services, to make it big.' 'For that, the red carpet must be rolled out fully and for all investors without holding back,' suggests Nivedita Mookerji.
India is all set to make its presence felt in the $47 billion global outsourced semiconductor testing and packaging market, an arena where Malaysia and Vietnam have been way ahead so far. The Cabinet last Thursday cleared two projects, the Tata's assembly testing and packaging plant (ATMP) and the Murugappa-owned CG Power with Renesas from Japan as its tech partner. These, together with Micron's assembly and testing plant which is already being constructed in Sanad in Gujarat, will collectively invest Rs 47,300 crore to set up the factories.