Headlines

Business conglomerate Adani Group has shown interest in acquiring Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) through an insolvency process, according to sources, the Economic Times of India reported. Jaypee Group's flagship firm JAL, which is into cement, power, hotels, construction and real estate businesses, has been admitted into the corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, through an order dated June 3, 2024, passed by the National Company Law Tribunal, Allahabad Bench.

In India’s most advanced cities, American companies are racing to set up more and bigger offshore campuses: fully staffed offices with high-skilled Indian professionals, performing functions vital to global business, the New York Times reported. The concentration is most stark in bits of Bengaluru. Apul Nahata of RapidAI, a Silicon Valley-based medical technology company that uses artificial intelligence to interpret brain scans, can look out the window of the office he leads in India and see a “density of companies” relevant to his work.

The real estate sector in Berlin is facing significant challenges, with one of its prominent figures, Nikolaus Ziegert, recently filing for bankruptcy, The Munich Eye reported. This development highlights the ongoing difficulties within the housing market, which is not only affecting tenants but also the businesses operating within the industry. Nikolaus Ziegert, who began his career as a florist specializing in selling roses, transitioned to real estate in 1985 when he sold his first condominium in Steglitz for 800 Deutsche Marks per square meter.

After a long period of pessimism, a number of global financial institutions have turned more upbeat on China’s economic outlook this year even amid concerns around tariffs, citing a stronger-than-expected recovery fueled by Beijing’s stimulus push, the Wall Street Journal reported. Over the past month, economists at HSBC, ANZ and Citi raised projections for China’s gross domestic product growth to 4.8%, 4.8% and 4.7% from previous estimates of 4.5%, 4.3% and 4.2% respectively.

Hungary is unlikely to cut interest rates any time soon as Governor Mihaly Varga pointed to a deterioration in the inflation outlook after his first monetary-policy meeting, Bloomberg News reported. The National Bank of Hungary kept the benchmark unchanged at 6.5% for a sixth month on Tuesday, tied with Romania for the highest key interest rate in the European Union. No other options were considered, Varga said. “Maintaining tight monetary conditions is warranted,” the governor told reporters.

The U.K. economy will grow slower than previously forecast in 2025, and the government will have to borrow more heavily over the coming years, Treasury Chief Rachel Reeves told lawmakers Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Office for Budget Responsibility lowered its growth forecast for this year to 1% from 2% previously. On taking office in July, the left-of-center Labour government said reviving growth after 15 years of stagnation was its top priority.

U.K. inflation cooled a little in February, but remained well above the Bank of England’s target, likely keeping policymakers cautious as they mull further rate cuts, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 2.8% higher in February than a year earlier, compared with a 3.0% annual rate of inflation in January, according to data released Wednesday by the U.K. statistics agency. That slight decrease came in a little faster than economists had expected, and was driven by a shallower rise in energy prices and goods such as clothing and footwear.

French consumer confidence decreased to 92 in March, down from 93 in the previous month, according to INSEE. This number was below analyst expectations of 94, while also remaining below the index’s long-term average of 100, EuroNews.com reported. Consumers were increasingly pessimistic about their financial outlook, which fell to a total of -11 in March, versus -4 in February. Expectations for future standards of living also dropped to -50 in March from -47 in the previous month.

Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney promised a C$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” to help Canadian auto manufacturing and strengthen a supply chain that’s under threat from US tariffs, Bloomberg News reported. Carney, who became prime minister less than two weeks ago, said a government led by him would try to build an “all-in-Canada” network for auto parts, working with industry to make more parts in the country and limit the number that have to cross the Canada-US border during production. But he gave few details on how that would work.

Canadians have long been the top international travelers to the U.S. Now, they are staying home, the Wall Street Journal reported. After President Trump said that he would impose tariffs on Canada, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged Canadians to change their vacation plans to focus on exploring sites within the country. It worked. Canadian residents returned from 13% fewer trips by air to the U.S. in February than they did a year ago, according to preliminary data from Statistics Canada.