Business News LIVE: Forex reserves drop by $2.67 billion to $682.13 billion

India's approach to spreading digital infrastructure networks by country's "public money" instead of choosing private players, unlike other countries, helped the micro-level players and businesses to grow, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. Interacting with the students at JAIN University in Bengaluru, Sitharaman added that the government and stakeholders played an important part in making the evolution of digital infrastructure successful.

Union Finance and Corporate Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday reviewed the performance of 10 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) of the Southern Region in Bengaluru.

The Union Finance Minister reviewed the performance of RRBS of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and UT of Puducherry, the Ministry of Finance stated in a post on social media platform X.

Expanding its network and tapping group synergies, Air India Express will focus on connecting smaller cities and towns with metros as well as fly to new overseas destinations, according to senior officials.

The airline, which recently completed the merger of AIX Connect with itself, has a fleet of around 90 aircraft and the count is expected to cross 110 by the end of this fiscal.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies of Punjab have procured 120.67 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy in a total of 126.67 LMT of paddy arrived in the mandis of Punjab, an official release said.

The paddy is being purchased at MSP at Rs 2320 per quintal as decided by the Government of India for Grade 'A' paddy and the total paddy purchased by the Government to date in the ongoing KMS 2024-25, amounts to Rs 27995 crore benefitting around 6.58 lakh farmers, in Punjab.

Israel's ambassador to India, Reuven Azar highlighted the significance of India's vibrant market and its potential for growth, stating that "India offers things that other markets don't."

This sentiment was expressed during the boot camp on introducing Al to start-ups, a collaborative effort between Israel and India.

 On Friday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri shared that global oil prices would have surged significantly had India not imported oil from Russia. Addressing India’s energy strategy, Puri noted that without these purchases, global oil prices would likely have escalated further.

After the victory of the Donald Trump in the US Presidential elections, India could benefit from any re-orientation of the global supply chain away from China says a report from Care Edge

As per report, Trump has proposed imposing high tariffs on imports from China, which could lead to changes in global trade dynamics, creating opportunities for India. It said "India could benefit from any re-orientation of the global supply chain away from China".
 

The recent slowdown in the bank credit growth especially in the personal loans is likely to impact the consumption in the urban areas, says a report by Crisil.

The report indicated that the delayed impact of past interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is beginning to show up in the broader economy, with bank credit growth decelerating over the last three months. This slowdown is especially concerning for the personal loans segment, which has a direct link to consumer spending in urban areas.

 China's consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in four months in October while producer price deflation deepened, data showed on Saturday, even as Beijing doubled down on stimulus to support the sputtering economy.

In its latest stimulus measures, the country's top legislative body approved a 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) package on Friday to ease local government "hidden debt" burdens, rather than directly injecting money into the world's second-biggest economy, as some investors had hoped.

The Uttar Pradesh government, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and the World Bank on Friday held negotiations for the Rs 3,903 crore Uttar Pradesh Agricultural Growth and Rural Enterprise Ecosystem Strengthening project.

The negotiations were held in New Delhi with Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh representing the state government, according to a statement here.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday drew attention to the rising number of road accidents and consequent deaths, and stressed on giving safety the highest priority while constructing pathways in the country.

Gadkari said if anyone dies in an accident due to road engineering fault in the future, then he will guilty for it.

Ahead of the Air India and Vistara merger scheduled on November 12, the Air India Group on Friday announced a number of management changes.

Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer of Vistara who has also been holding the role of Chief Integration Officer for the full-service airlines' merger, will continue in the latter role post-merger.

Tesla's market value closed above the $1 trillion mark in a sharp rally on Friday, on expectations that CEO Elon Musk's companies will get favorable treatment under President-elect Donald Trump for his extensive support during the poll campaign.

The S&P 500 briefly surpassed the 6,000 mark and closed with its biggest weekly percentage gain in a year, as Donald Trump's election victory and a possible Republican Party sweep in Congress fueled expectations for favorable business policies.

Also supporting stocks this week was a widely expected interest rate cut of 25 basis points by the Federal Reserve on Thursday.

 India's forex reserves declined by USD 2.675 billion to USD 682.13 billion for the week ended November 1, the RBI said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by USD 3.463 billion to USD 684.805 billion. In September- end, the reserves had hit an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion.