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By Dr. Gyan Pathak Just after the results of MLC elections were out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a taunt against Congress for their ‘loss’ on October 28 by posting on X and followed such by the BJP-RSS clan. PM Modi posted, “MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, […]

The article MLC Election Result In Varanasi Has A Lesson For PM Narendra Modi appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

During its stay in Hong Kong, the delegation visited the CCPIT Representative Office in Hong Kong. It held discussions with CMA and co-hosted the Hainan Free Trade Port (Hong Kong) Economic and Trade Cooperation Exchange Meeting with FHKI. The event showcased the policies, key industrial layout and investment opportunities of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), and arranged one-on-one business matchmaking between Hainan and Hong Kong enterprises.

Wang Yuyuan, Vice President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Hainan Sub-council (CCPIT Hainan) and China Chamber of International Commerce Hainan Chamber of Commerce, noted that since the official launch of island-wide special customs operations at the Hainan FTP on December 18, 2025, 174,000 new enterprises have been registered, representing a year-on-year surge of 95.9 percent. Newly established foreign-invested enterprises rose by 35.8 percent year on year. In the first half of this year, inbound and outbound tourist arrivals exceeded 70 million, up 28 percent year on year, with the number of visa-free entry countries expanding to 88. From January to August, the province’s total goods import and export volume hit 250 billion yuan, growing by 61.5 percent year on year. Hainan is rapidly emerging as a critical gateway connecting China with the rest of the world and a prime channel for two-way investment.

According to CCPIT Hainan, Hong Kong ranks as a major source of foreign investment for Hainan. In the first half of this year, Hainan registered 1,303 new foreign-invested enterprises, an increase of 38.62 percent year on year, with Hong Kong-funded enterprises accounting for the lion’s share. Hainan has issued offshore RMB local government bonds in Hong Kong for four consecutive years, with a cumulative issuance volume reaching 18 billion yuan.

CMA is one of Hong Kong’s most representative non-profit industrial and commercial bodies, with around 3,000 member enterprises. It has long provided members with business services including exhibitions, brand promotion, testing and certification. FHKI, one of Hong Kong’s four major chambers of commerce, has approximately 2,000 corporate members. It focuses on boosting the sustained development of Hong Kong industry and manufacturing through policy advocacy, business matchmaking, certification services and youth talent cultivation.

The two memoranda explicitly stipulate that the two sides will establish a regular liaison mechanism, build a long-term cooperation platform covering information sharing, business matchmaking, exhibition collaboration and professional services, and provide solid support for pragmatic business cooperation between Hainan and Hong Kong enterprises.

Source: China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Hainan Provincial Committee (CCPIT Hainan)

Hashtag: #CPITHainan

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

As global commercial vehicle competition intensifies, international growth requires strong products and manufacturing as well as professional full-lifecycle service. BAIC FOTON’s growing African lineup creates diverse sales, maintenance and technical-support needs, making local talent development essential. Since early 2026, the company has delivered nearly 100 specialized training sessions in key markets, including heavy-duty truck engine disassembly in Argentina, all-electric bus fault diagnosis in Türkiye, and one-day intensive training for five rotating groups in Uruguay. The programs turn headquarters’ technical standards into practical frontline diagnostic and repair skills.

Lu Zhenghua said the center will support Africa’s regional operating system and deeper localization by connecting technical standards, service experience and local team capabilities, while improving coordination among product supply, after-sales support and talent development. Wang Zhuozhong, VP of BAIC FOTON INTERNATIONAL, introduced the center’s background and development plan. Local partners discussed service cooperation, support for service providers and future opportunities.

Centered in South Africa and serving the wider continent, the center will share technical standards and service experience and help dealers improve spare-parts stocking, maintenance processes and response efficiency, advancing standardized, professional services.

The 900-square-meter facility allocates 450 square meters each to theoretical and practical training. A 140-square-meter classroom seats 80, and a 35-square-meter classroom seats 24. Offices and rest areas support five practical zones: complete vehicles, engines, transmissions, electrical and electronic systems, and new-energy vehicles. The facility supports training across BAIC FOTON’s product range and job roles.

After touring the center, Lu Zhenghua and his delegation met local dealers and customers to discuss regional business. African dealers welcomed its contribution to local talent and service capability, and looked forward to deeper technical and business cooperation.

Building on local manufacturing in South Africa, BAIC FOTON is integrating manufacturing, spare-parts supply, after-sales support and professional training. It will continue working with African partners to deepen internationalization and localization and promote high-quality growth across the continent.

Hashtag: #BAICFOTON

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak Once upon a time people in India exercised their “right to protest” in front of the ruling establishment in New Delhi free of cost, though they still needed government permissions for assembly of people for protest. However, under PM Narendra Modi, it has been abolished altogether with denotification of designated protest […]

The article India’s National Capital Being Turned Into No Protest Zone appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

The Summit explored the trends reshaping customer expectations and the future of financial services. Discussions focused on rising wealth, increasing cross-border mobility, and the growing convergence of data, artificial intelligence and human expertise. Participants exchanged perspectives on how deeper partnerships can enhance customer outcomes and unlock new opportunities for the next phase of growth.

Chengdu’s history provided a fitting backdrop for the Summit. More than a thousand years ago, the city pioneered “jiaozi”, widely regarded as the world’s first paper money. Its success depended on trust in the promise behind it, a principle that remains equally important in successful partnerships today.

Dennis Tan, Regional CEO, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar; Group Partnership Distribution, Prudential plc, said: “Keeping promises sits at the heart of every partnership for Prudential. Founded on trust and strengthened through collaboration, these relationships help us meet customers’ increasingly interconnected health, protection and wealth needs.

“The Summit demonstrated the strength of Prudential’s partnership ecosystem and the opportunities ahead. By bringing together distribution expertise, digital capabilities and market insights, we are working to create better customer experiences and drive long-term, sustainable growth with our partners.”

The programme also featured guest speaker Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer and referee of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final. Drawing on his experience at the highest level of international football, he shared perspectives on leadership, accountability and sound decision-making in complex and rapidly changing environments.

Partnership distribution at Prudential

Prudential harnesses the strength of its partnership ecosystem to translate shared priorities into action, helping more customers achieve greater financial security and confidence for the future.

Partnership distribution has long been central to Prudential’s growth strategy. Since establishing its first strategic bancassurance partnership in 1998, Prudential has built one of Asia’s largest bancassurance franchises, comprising more than 180 banking partnerships across markets. In the first half of 2026, the bancassurance channel delivered US$586 million in new business profit, up 13 per cent on a constant exchange rate basis from US$505 million in the same period last year.

Hashtag: #Prudentialplc

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Prudential plc

Prudential provides life and health insurance and asset management in Greater China, ASEAN, India and Africa. Prudential’s mission is to be the most trusted partner and protector for this generation and generations to come, by providing simple and accessible financial and health solutions. The business has dual primary listings on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX: 2378) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: PRU). It also has a secondary listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX: K6S) and a listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: PUK) in the form of American Depositary Receipts. It is a constituent of the Hang Seng Composite Index and is also included for trading in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme and the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme.

Prudential is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc. a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America, nor with The Prudential Assurance Company Limited, a subsidiary of M&G plc, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom.

www.prudentialplc.com

By Nitya Chakraborty As I read the despondent news of the passing of Jogen Chowdhury, a towering figure of modern Indian art, on Sunday morning in the online edition of a Bengali daily, sitting in my Delhi flat, my memory went 62 years back when Jogen and I, along with a bunch of other close […]

The article Remembering Jogen Chowdhury, Partner In My First Cultural Event appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

The results, announced by Iveco on Monday and disclosed by Tata Motors on Tuesday, show that shareholders tendered 238,157,212 shares before the offer closed on 26 October. Those acceptances represent 87.81% of Iveco’s total common share capital, exceeding the revised 80% minimum required for the transaction to proceed.

The 89.42% figure is calculated after excluding the 4,868,597 shares held in Iveco’s treasury. It represents the prospective ownership of TML CV Holdings B. V., the Tata Motors acquisition subsidiary, rather than a completed transfer of the shares. Settlement remains subject to confirmation of the provisional results and satisfaction or waiver of other offer conditions.

Iveco said the final results and the status of outstanding conditions would be published by 29 October, before trading begins. Payment for shares accepted during the initial tender period is scheduled for 30 October, when ownership will transfer against the agreed cash consideration if the conditions are met.

The acquisition vehicle offered €14.40 for each share, valuing the 238.16 million tendered shares at approximately €3.43 billion. The overall offer has been valued at about €3.9 billion, making the transaction Tata Motors’ largest overseas acquisition since its purchase of Jaguar Land Rover in 2008.

The acceptance threshold was initially fixed at 95%, but fell automatically to 80% following a resolution approved by Iveco shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on 16 October. That decision provided a mechanism for completing the transaction without securing acceptances from nearly every shareholder.

The lower requirement proved important as the tender period approached its deadline. Although the preliminary level of support comfortably exceeds 80%, it remains below the original 95% target. The final ownership structure will depend partly on the number of additional shareholders accepting the offer during a second window. Any subsequent steps towards full ownership or delisting will depend on the applicable procedures and the level of shares ultimately acquired.

Iveco has scheduled that reopening for five trading days, from 2 November to 6 November, subject to confirmation of the initial results and the remaining conditions. Investors who tender during the additional period are expected to receive payment on 13 November at the same €14.40 price.

Tata Motors raised its cash offer by 30 euro cents a share on 9 October, from €14.10, after the acquisition timetable was extended. The revised price applied to all shares tendered during the initial period, including those submitted before the increase was announced.

The takeover covers Iveco’s commercial vehicle operations, including trucks and buses, but excludes its defence business, which is being separated. The proposed combination would give Tata Motors a much larger manufacturing and distribution presence in Europe while bringing Iveco’s established commercial vehicle brands into the wider group. The deal would also broaden the range of vehicles and markets served by the combined commercial vehicle operations.

Iveco’s board had unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer. Its largest shareholder, Exor, which held approximately 27.06% of the common shares and 43.19% of voting rights when the offer was launched, had committed to tender its holding and support the necessary shareholder resolutions.

The transaction nevertheless drew opposition from investment firm Petrus Advisers, which argued that the original price undervalued Iveco and failed to reflect sufficiently the potential benefits of combining the businesses. The increase to €14.40 did not eliminate the importance of shareholder participation in meeting the formal acceptance condition.

Tata Motors managing director and chief executive Girish Wagh described the revised price as the company’s best and final offer before the tender deadline. The company had indicated that a substantial proportion of shareholders might submit their acceptances close to the closing date, a pattern reflected in the final provisional tally.

The offer began on 7 September after Italy’s market regulator, Consob, approved the offer document earlier that month. BNP Paribas’s Italian branch coordinated the collection of acceptances and supplied the provisional figures disclosed by Iveco.

Iveco said the acquisition vehicle had not purchased any common shares outside the tender offer between publication of the offer document on 4 September and the closing date. The company’s treasury holding accounted for approximately 1.80% of its issued common share capital.

Joint study shows emerging markets will generate 60% of new online spending over the next decade — most of it from consumers without a credit card

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 October 2026 – Asia is projected to add 702 million middle-class adults between 2026 and 2036, three-quarters of all middle-class growth in emerging markets, according to a new study from World Data Lab (WDL) and EBANX, a global technology company specializing in payment services for emerging markets.

But this new consumer class will not shop the same way developed-market consumers do: by 2036, only 20% of adults in emerging markets will hold a credit card, against 66% in developed markets.

Global online spending is projected to grow from USD 11 trillion in 2026 to USD 25.6 trillion in 2036. Emerging markets add USD 8.7 trillion of that increase (60% of all new online spending), with China (USD +4.7 trillion) and India (USD +1.3 trillion) leading this growth. Indonesia (USD +243 billion), Brazil (USD +249 billion) and Mexico (USD +191 billion) form the next tier.

The categories matter as much as the markets. Online gaming spending in emerging markets grows 14% a year over the decade, the fastest of any category, and SaaS nearly 10%. Emerging markets will generate 76% of global growth in social media spending and 64% in SaaS.

The demographic picture challenges a common assumption. Consumers aged 45 and over account for 51% of emerging markets’ online spending growth through 2036, and spending by those aged 65 and over grows 12% a year, faster than any other age group.

The outlook was discussed during “Navigating Payments: How innovation and fragmentation are changing the game for e-commerce,” a webinar co-hosted by World Data Lab (WDL) and EBANX.

“Over the next ten years, people aged 45 and over will add USD 4.4 trillion in online spending in emerging markets, half of all the growth. Some of them already shop on their phones and will keep doing so as they get older. Others will buy online for the first time in their fifties or sixties. Merchants who build their checkout only for a 25-year-old will miss both groups,” explained Wolfgang Fengler, CEO of WDL.

The study models consumer spending, demographics, and financial access across 184 countries to 2036, drawing on the World Bank’s Global Findex and WDL’s consumer models, combined with EBANX’s experience processing payments for global merchants in emerging markets since 2012.

“If your checkout only takes credit cards, you are competing for one in five adults in emerging markets and conceding the other four”, said Marie-Elise Droga, Chief Revenue Officer of EBANX. “The merchants growing fastest with us didn’t wait for cards to arrive: they added the payment rails their customers already use, and they’re taking new buyers, bigger baskets and recurring revenue that card-only competitors can’t even see.”

834 million new online buyers, 281 million new credit cards

Between 2026 and 2036, the global economy will add 834 million online buyers but only 281 million credit card holders—a ratio of nearly three to one. In emerging markets, two in three new online buyers (67%) will arrive without a credit card. Adults without it already account for 55% of online spending in emerging markets, a share that rises to 90% in India and 93% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Credit cardless adults also represent 52% to 59% of spending in every digital category, from gaming and SaaS to streaming and travel.

Digital payment use is also running ahead of online shopping. Of the 2.6 billion emerging-market adults spending between USD 6 and USD 25 a day, 70% already pay merchants digitally while only 33% buy online, leaving at least 957 million digitally active consumers who are not yet online buyers. Many hold a bank account or mobile wallet but no card that works at an international checkout.

“This is closely tied to the innovation that came out of the financial industry in emerging markets, which developed solutions for an increasingly mobile economy and for the habits of local consumers. Today, we call them local payment methods, or LPMs, and they allowed e-commerce growth to decouple from the credit card, which still has very low penetration in these countries,” said Estelita Hass, head of Market Intelligence at EBANX.

Subscriptions are the next frontier — and India shows why

Recurring categories such as streaming, SaaS and online education will reach USD 2.1 trillion a year in emerging markets by 2036, with USD 1.1 trillion coming from adults without a credit card. In India, 82% of recurring online spending will be cardless. Account-based recurring rails are beginning to close that gap: a global SaaS company saw a 20% uplift in new subscribers after adding UPI at checkout in India, and cybersecurity company Nord Security now generates 28% of its revenue in Brazil through Pix Automático, Brazil’s recurring instant payment, six months after launching it with EBANX.

The webinar presentation is available at [LINK].

Hashtag: #EBANX #WorldDataLab #Fintech #Payments #EmergingMarkets #Consumers

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

ABOUT EBANX

EBANX is the leading technology platform connecting global businesses to the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. Founded in 2012 in Brazil, EBANX was built with a mission to expand access to international digital commerce. Leveraging proprietary technology, deep market expertise, and robust infrastructure, the platform enables global businesses to offer hundreds of local payment methods and streamline cross-border payments across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With a global footprint, it established a technology and regulatory headquarters in Singapore in 2026. More than just payments, EBANX drives growth, enhances sales, and delivers seamless purchase experiences for businesses and end users alike.

For further information, please visit:

Website: https://ebanx.com/en/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ebanx/

By Nantoo Banerjee The long-drawn Ukraine-Russia war seems to be turning out to become the world’s largest and most expensive proxy war in the modern era, in which the European Union and the United Kingdom have so far spent nearly $300 billion on Ukraine to tame Russia. The Syrian civil war since 2011 may be […]

The article The UK, EU Spent Billions On Ukraine To Proxy-Fight Russia appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).