The market reversed some of the previous day's gains and closed with half a percent losses on February 6 as traders turned cautious ahead of the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for February 8. Weak cues from global peers also weighed on sentiment. The BSE Sensex fell 335 points to 60,507, while the Nifty50 declined 89 points to 17,765 amid volatility and formed inside bar and bearish candlestick pattern with longer lower shadow on daily charts. This indicates buying…

For MakeMyTrip, the pandemic opened up opportunities for transforming its business and solve all travel use cases, as it embarked on a journey to be a one-stop shop for all things travel, said co-founder and group chief executive Rajesh Magow in an interview. Speaking about expanding to smaller towns, Magow said it used the downcycle to improve its product add more language support and voice features, to be ready for the long-term opportunities. Edited excerpts:....

The Budget has promised to reduce Customs duty on imported ‘seeds’ to grow the diamonds in the lab The grant of ₹242 crore out of the Budget to the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has gingered-up activity on research into lab-grown diamonds (LGD) at the institute, which now intends to set up a National Centre for Lab-Grown Diamonds.....

The equity market rebounded sharply and settled with decent gains on February 3, driven by buying in banking & financial services, auto, select FMCG, and technology stocks. The positive news on Adani Group and the fall in oil prices also lifted market sentiment. The BSE Sensex rallied 910 points or 1.52 percent to 60,842, while the Nifty50 jumped 244 points or 1.4 percent to 17,854 and formed a bullish candle on the daily charts with long lower shadow indicating there was a support-based buying…

His startup The Mainstreet Marketplace has served about 30,000 customers till now through products and more than 3 million people through content Vedant Lamba, founder of The Mainstreet Marketplace was 17 years old when he learned about the sneaker culture in India and kept reading more and more about the space. He felt like he was diving headfirst into a rabbit hole. And, when he looked up, he realized there was no one around in the space. This looked like a big gap to fill. And that was the mo…

Centre clears Rs 16,133-crore dues conversion into equity After a long wait, Vodafone Idea (Vi) has been able to secure a lifeline as the Centre on Friday approved the conversion of the telco’s dues linked to interest on spectrum and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) worth Rs 16,133 crore into equity. With this, the government will have a 33 per cent stake, making it the biggest shareholder in the financially-stressed telecom joint venture between UK’s Vodafone and Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Ad…

Riding on the success of its iPhone 13 model, Apple Inc. registered a third straight quarter of “double-digit growth" in India, confirming its leadership of the premium smartphone market and moving closer to a ranking among the top five phone brands in the country.....

Says the battering of group’s stocks in market is not something the government can or should worry about Finance Secretary TV Somanathan on Friday allayed concerns about domestic financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies, in the wake of the Adani-Hindenburg episode which entails exposure of the nation’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India and the State Bank of India....

On the bourses, shares of the bank jumped over 5 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 162.3 per share State-owned Bank of Baroda, on Friday, reported its highest-ever quarterly net profit of Rs 3,853 crore for the October-December quarter (Q3) of financial year 2023 (FY23), registering a staggering growth of 75.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY)....

Fitch Ratings said on Friday that there is no immediate impact on the Fitch-rated Adani entities and their securities, and that it expects no material changes to its forecast cash flow. The clarification comes after the damning Hindenburg report that alleged the Adani Group of stock manipulation, accounting fraud and other malpractices....

Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2022, driven by an increase in oil and non-oil activities, according to flash estimates released by the General Authority of Statistics (GASTAT) Tuesday.   Saudi GDP Non-oil activity rose by 6.2% and oil activity increased by 6.1%. Government services activity grew by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, GASTAT said....

Applications for the program began on February 1, 2023, and will remain open until March 1, 2023. Social entrepreneurs from across the globe can now submit their climate-related solutions and ideas to Expo Live, the innovation and partnership grant program initiated under Expo 2020 Dubai. Applications for the program began on February 1, 2023, and will remain open until March 1, 2023. Among the criteria for selection are ideas that can be shared and replicated to create a widescale, positive e…

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, recently announced the launch of its Family Wealth Centre (link). In addition, following a 30-day public consultation period, the DIFC Authority has now enacted the DIFC Family Arrangements Regulations. The DIFC Family Wealth Centre and the new regulations will provide a regulatory framework and hub for global and regional family-owned businesses, ultra-high …

The new four business groups are within the construction sector: Building Materials Business Group, Cement & Ready-Mix Business Group, Ceramics Business group and Paint Coating & Gypsum Business Group. Lootah: Our role at Dubai Chambers is to support the various economic sectors in Dubai including construction. AED247.4 billion is Dubai’s trade of building materials during the period 2011-2021 Dubai Chamber of Commerce, one of the three chambers operating under Dubai Chambers, has announ…

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has signed a joint venture agreement with US-based AeroFarms to establish a company in Riyadh to build and operate indoor vertical farms in the Kingdom and the wider Middle East and North Africa region.....

Abu Dhabi-based Aldar Properties has signed a binding joint venture agreement with Dubai Holding to enter Dubai’s real estate market, according to a statement released Thursday.   Expanding footprint The plan includes the development of new communities in three locations across an area of 3.55 million square meters (sqm) or 38.2 million square feet, Aldar said. They will be located in the suburbs of Dubai, along the E311 and E611 corridors....

The E-Business Awards 2023 will be held on March 13, 2023, at the Sofitel Dubai The Palm. Nominations for the E-Business Awards 2023, an annual event staged by Entrepreneur Middle East to recognize and reward key players in the MENA region's digital business landscape, will be accepted untill March 6, 2023.....

For the second year in a row in 2022,  Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) recorded a significant increase in using its digital services by all stakeholders. This reflects the excellence and leadership of the digital transformation process at DEWA and its success in providing innovative and advanced services that meet the needs of stakeholders at any time and from anywhere with ease and safety. This saves their time and effort and enhances their happiness, which contributes to making D…

The move comes as part of the Abu Dhabi Health Department's Healthier Abu Dhabi initiative. Abu Dhabi's Health Department on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Maccabi Health Services' Khan Sagol Maccabi Research and Innovation Center pledging to increase cooperation in healthcare research and technological innovation, the organizations announced.....

The Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Economic Cities and Special Zones Authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in the field of economic and investment development. The MoU seeks to optimise the competitive advantage of cities and special economic zones by setting a general framework for joint activities and developing capabilities between the two sides in a manner that achieves mutual benefits....…

Malaysia is confident of achieving positive growth and avoid a recession this year despite having to navigate through global headwinds. Even though the country's economic growth this year is projected to moderate compared with 2022, International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said he was optimistic that Malaysia would not face a recession..... More https://bit.ly/3JJUn6D Via nst.com.my

AMID strong demand for homes, more Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats have changed hands for over a million dollars each. Attributes such as a large floor area, a central location, good views and being relatively new can help an HDB flat to fetch a cool million dollars or more in the resale market. Good news for owners of such coveted HDB flats; angst for some people who fear that certain resale flats are possibly unaffordable. Are buyers crazy to pay princely sums for public housing fla…

NEARLY 7 million Filipinos owned cryptocurrency accounts nationwide, placing the country eighth among the number of crypto owners, according to London-based research firm CoinJournal. The data showed there were a total of 6.99 million Filipinos or 6.13 percent of the population with a cryptocurrency account. The top three in the world are the United States, Vietnam and Pakistan.....

Are prices in Singapore going up and what is the Government doing about it? Singapore was ranked the most expensive city in the world, together with New York, by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its Worldwide Cost of Living (WCOL) 2022 survey. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living (WCOL) survey is designed to help human resource managers around the world calculate cost of living allowances for expatriates and business travellers. Hence, it may not reflect the…

The Department of Finance welcomed the US Federal Reserve’s “softer” interest rate hike while forecasting that inflation in the Philippines has reached its long-awaited peak. This was what Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno told the private sector in a Friday briefing organized by the Makati Business Club.... More Via philstar.com

Takings at the till climbed at a faster pace in December, rising 7.4 per cent year on year, according to figures released by the Department of Statistics on Friday. This was better than the revised 6.5 per cent rise in November, which had eased from the double-digit growth in the previous seven consecutive months. The high growth in those months was fuelled by tourist spending and shoppers buying big-ticket items ahead of the goods and services tax hike in January....

Gobi Partners, an interconnected Pan-Asian venture capital firm with US$1.5 billion (RM6.5 billion) in assets under management, has onboarded four more promising startups to help spur the growth of Malaysian entrepreneurs. The four firms being onboarded to Gobi Superseed II Fund (Gobi SSII Fund) are Islamic-themed streaming service Durioo+, e-commerce marketplace Lapasar, earned wage access provider Paywatch and online investing platform pitchIN.... More https://bit.ly/40rHhAL Via nst.com.my

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is expected to sign seven key bilateral deals covering infrastructure, defense, and tourism, among others, during his trip to Japan next week. Mr. Marcos’ working visit from Feb. 8 to 12 also gives the Philippines a chance to further boost exports to Japan, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Asia and Pacific Affairs Nathaniel Imperial told a news briefing...... More https://bit.ly/3l1NTFQ Via bworldonline.com

SINGAPORE’S property market is bracing for surging demand from Chinese buyers as the world’s second-largest economy reopens. Real estate agencies in the city-state have seen more inquiries from mainland Chinese, with industry watcher OrangeTee & Tie noting a 10 per cent to 15 per cent increase in January since Beijing announced it was ending three years of global isolation. The border reopening has also seen a spike in queries about immigration to Singapore.....

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam lured $1.69 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) as of January 20 this year, a year-on-year decrease of 19.8 per cent. There were 153 newly-registered projects totalling $1.2 billion, up 48.5 per cent in quantity and 3.1 times in value against last year's January....