The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday announced a fresh round of liquidity measures through open-market operations (OMOs) and a foreign exchange buy-sell swap, under which it will inject close to Rs 3 trillion into the banking system. The central bank said it would purchase Government of India securities worth Rs 2 trillion through OMOs, spread across four tranches of Rs 50,000 crore each to be conducted on December 29, January 5, January 12 and January 22.
Among the Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Ports, HCL Technologies, Eternal, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever and UltraTech Cement were the gainers. Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Kotak Mahindra Bank, PowerGrid and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
India and Russia have solidified a five-year plan to enhance their economic and trade partnership, while also addressing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the threat of terrorism.
US President Donald Trump signed the National Defence Authorisation Act for Fiscal Year 2026 into law, highlighting broadened engagement with India and addressing the challenge posed by China in the Indo-Pacific region.
As a protege of Shinzo Abe, Takaichi is expected to scale bilateral ties much higher. Trade and investment shall grow. People-to-people contacts shall be scaled up, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
India needs to increase the investment rate to 34-35 per cent from 31-32 per cent currently to achieve a growth rate of 7 per cent and above, said S Mahendra Dev, chairman, economic advisory council (EAC) to the Prime Minister, on Wednesday.
Brave statements such as we will continue to be the fastest growing large country are of no consolation, because the direction of trade also determines the flow of investment, points out M Govinda Rao.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the trading hours for the interbank call money market from July 1, and that of repo and tri-party repo markets from August 1. Market participants said the decision is intended to help reduce the large Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) balances held by banks with the RBI, thereby addressing liquidity mismatches.
'Calibrated depreciation will help rebalance external fundamentals, offset some of the tariff differentials with competitors, improve the competitiveness of domestic substitutes vis-a-vis Chinese imports, and contribute to the easing of financial conditions at a time when the inflation rate is unusually low,' explains Sajjid Z Chinoy, head of Asia Economics at JP Morgan.
In a bid to promote the use of domestic currency for cross-border settlements, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced a slew of measures, including allowing banks to lend in Indian Rupees to non-residents from Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka for bilateral trade.
The 2025 US National Security Strategy marks a major pullback, with America turning backward and effectively allowing China greater dominance in Asia. while long-time partners like India are left to face an increasingly unstable global order largely on their own, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Indian government has expressed its disagreement with the IMF staff's 'baseline' assumption that the 50 per cent US tariffs on its goods exports 'would remain in place indefinitely', based on which the staff pegged the country's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent this year, and pared its 2026-27 projection by 20 basis points to 6.2 per cent.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host Russian President Vladimir Putin for a private dinner and summit, focusing on defence, trade, and geopolitical issues, including the Ukraine conflict and the impact of US sanctions.
Stock markets will be driven by RBI's interest rate decision, tariff-related developments, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors in this holiday-shortened week, analysts said.
'There are times when India should stand up without hesitation and voice its indignation over the US' pressure tactic. This is one such moment,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi for a two-day visit focused on strengthening ties with India, including defense cooperation and trade, amidst a changing geopolitical landscape.
Lavrov, who addressed the UN General Assembly shortly before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's speech at the high-level General Debate, said India and Russia share a "particularly privileged strategic partnership".
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers of Indian equities in September, withdrawing Rs 23,885 crore (around $2.7 billion) and taking year-to-date outflow to Rs 1.58 lakh crore ($17.6 billion).
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen's comments came amid a major downturn between New Delhi and Washington after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 percent, including a 25 percent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
'Pakistan is an ally who gives the US access.' 'If we have a presence there, it puts us that much closer to China and puts our assets closer to China and Iran.'
The Bloomberg report suggests that this backchannel communication from President Xi has laid the groundwork for a broader thaw in relations. This overture has since translated into a series of tangible diplomatic actions leading up to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Electronics and Sun Pharma were among the major gainers. In contrast, Trent, Eternal, Axis Bank and Titan were among the laggards.
India and Israel on Tuesday signed a defence pact that will facilitate sharing of advanced technologies and promote co-development and co-production of key weapon systems and military hardware, in a major move to further bolster their already robust strategic ties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day visit to India from December 4 to hold annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that is expected to produce a plethora of significant outcomes, including in the defence sphere, to further solidify the bilateral strategic ties.
State Bank of India, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and PowerGrid were also among the laggards.
Stock market investors this week would track the renewed tariff tensions between the US and China, domestic inflation data, besides, quarterly earnings from blue-chips HCL Tech, Infosys and Reliance Industries would also drive the momentum in equities, analysts said.
Earlier, such entities were only permitted to invest their rupee surplus balance in accounts in central government securities, including treasury bills. "It has now been decided to also permit investment of these balances in non-convertible debentures/bonds and commercial papers issued by an Indian company," the RBI said.
The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both countries.
Benchmark Sensex advanced 110 points in a choppy trade on Wednesday, extending its gains to the fourth day in a row helped by buying in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and fresh foreign fund inflows. The 30-share barometer rose by 110.58 points or 0.14 per cent to settle at 80,956.33 with 14 of its constituents ending with gains and 16 stocks with losses. During the day, it jumped 399.64 points or 0.49 per cent to 81,245.39 and dipped to a low of 80,630.53.
United States President Donald Trump has warned that countries aligning with the BRICS economic bloc will face additional 10 per cent tariffs on their goods, as he seeks to protect the dollar's global dominance.
US Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor emphasizes the importance of the India-US relationship after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on cooperation in defence, trade, and critical minerals.
Equity markets will keenly track outcome of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting this week amid heightened expectations of an interest rate cut along with WPI inflation data, analysts said. Any further development on the USndia trade front would also drive trends in the equity market, experts said.
Rubio voiced "appreciation" for New Delhi's continued engagement on bilateral issues, including trade, defence and energy.
Among Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Infosys, Titan, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Power Grid were the major laggards. However, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, UltraTech Cement and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.
The US sees an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan but assures that it will not come at the expense of its ties with India, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
'The US values its relationship with India and under the strong leadership of President Donald J Trump and Prime Minister Modi, I am optimistic about the days ahead for both of our nations.'
From the Sensex firms, Tata Motors jumped the most by 5.54 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank. However, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
Foreign investors withdrew Rs 10,355 crore from the country's equity markets in the last four trading sessions this month due to sweeping tariffs imposed by the US on most nations, including India. The outflow occurred after a net investment of Rs 30,927 crore in the six trading sessions from March 21 to March 28. This infusion helped reduce the overall outflow for March to Rs 3,973 crore, according to data from the depositories.
Sanctioning Russian oil would have led to a sharp surge in oil prices to above $80 per barrel levels, which would impact pump prices in the US ahead of midterm elections next year.
The Indian economy could remain less affected by global trade wars than other countries because the two engines of domestic growth - consumption and investment - are likely to face a limited impact from such headwinds, according to an article on the 'State of the Economy' in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) bulletin, released on Tuesday.
