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A leading enterprise-artificial-intelligence firm, Fractal Analytics, is preparing to launch a public share sale of around ₹4,900 crore and is targeting a market valuation near US $3 billion. The move comes as the company positions itself at the forefront of the AI-analytics sector and seeks to capitalise on growing investor demand for technology listings. The proposed offering would comprise fresh shares worth about ₹1,280 crore and an offer-for-sale by existing investors totalling approximately ₹3,620 crore as part of its entry into public markets.

Fractal Analytics was founded in 2000 by five graduates of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Today only two of the original founders remain with the company: Group Chief Executive Officer Srikanth Velamakanni and Chief Executive Officer Pranay Agrawal, each holding roughly 10 per cent of the company’s equity and not looking to sell in the upcoming offering. The firm achieved unicorn status in 2022 and generates more than 90 per cent of its revenues outside its home market, meaning its exposure to global enterprise clients is strong.

Advising banks on the share sale include major names such as Axis Bank, Goldman Sachs, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Morgan Stanley, signalling the IPO is being positioned among marquee listings. Industry data show that new-listing proceeds in the Indian market have already approached US $16 billion in 2025, with expectations that this year could surpass the US $21 billion record set in the prior year.

In financial terms, Fractal has posted a turnaround in performance. According to regulatory disclosures, its revenue rose from about ₹2,043.7 crore in FY23 to approximately ₹2,816.2 crore in FY25, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of around 17.4 per cent. Meanwhile, profitability returned in FY25 with a net profit of ₹220.6 crore after a loss of ₹54.7 crore in the previous year. The firm’s adjusted EBITDA margin improved from 6.8 per cent in FY23 to 17.4 per cent in FY25, and operating cash-flow rose substantially to ₹397 crore in FY25 from the previous year.

Fractal’s service model is built around large global enterprises, which in FY25 included 113 “must-win clients”—companies with annual revenues in excess of US $10 billion or customer bases over 30 million. About 65 per cent of the firm’s FY25 revenues were derived from the United States, underlining its dependence on Western markets. To maintain growth momentum the company intends to channel IPO proceeds into further research and development, strategic acquisitions, expansion of its R&D centres in locations such as Bengaluru, Gurugram, Pune and Noida, and boosting its sales-and-marketing capabilities.

Despite the strong metrics the IPO plan carries risks. The business remains heavily concentrated: its top ten clients contributed 53.8 per cent of revenue in the Fractal. ai segment in FY25. Losing a major client could have a disproportionate impact on its results. The firm is also operating in a rapidly evolving global AI landscape dominated by large diversified IT-service providers as well as specialist startups. Its heavy reliance on the U. S. market exposes it to foreign-exchange volatility and regulatory shifts abroad. Analysts comment that an IPO valuation near US $3 billion may leave little margin for error if market sentiment weakens or growth decelerates.

By Nantoo Banerjee If global oil giant BP plc’s ‘Energy Outlook 2025’ proves to be true, India will be a global leader in energy consumption, outpacing all other countries by 2050. The country will account for 12 percent of the global demand, up from seven percent from 2023, according to BP’s chief economist Spencer Dale. […]

The article India Is At The Heart Of Driving The Global Energy Process appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

Saudi Arabia’s flagship New Murabba project is poised to become a major investment hub, with plans to attract capital in technology, real estate, and construction sectors. Michael Dyke, the CEO of New Murabba, announced the initiative at the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh, marking a significant step forward in the kingdom’s diversification strategy.

Launched in 2023 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the New Murabba project is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader Vision 2030, aimed at reducing the nation’s reliance on oil revenues by fostering new industries and boosting economic growth. The initiative aims to transform the heart of Riyadh into a sprawling mixed-use urban area, poised to redefine the cityscape with a mix of residential, commercial, and entertainment offerings.

The project will cover an area of 19 square kilometres, positioning it as one of the largest urban developments globally. Its scale is unprecedented, making it one of the most ambitious projects in Saudi Arabia’s recent history. The new district is expected to accommodate over 100,000 residents and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in various sectors, significantly contributing to Riyadh’s economic development.

One of the key areas that Dyke highlighted during his speech at the forum is the focus on technology. The New Murabba project aims to integrate cutting-edge technological innovations into its design and infrastructure. The development will feature smart city technologies, including AI-driven systems for traffic management, energy conservation, and public services. Moreover, the project is expected to foster a thriving ecosystem for tech startups and established companies, making it an attractive destination for both domestic and international tech investors.

The project’s real estate and construction sectors will also play a pivotal role. With residential spaces, luxury hotels, office towers, and retail outlets planned, the project is designed to meet the needs of a diverse range of residents, businesses, and tourists. This focus on mixed-use developments aims to create a self-sustaining urban area, with a heavy emphasis on sustainability and green architecture. Additionally, the construction phase alone is expected to generate significant economic activity, providing a substantial number of jobs in the kingdom’s building sector.

New Murabba’s strategic location within Riyadh further boosts its potential as a central business and cultural district. It will be positioned in close proximity to key landmarks, including the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre and the King Saud University, enhancing its accessibility and making it a focal point for both locals and visitors. The project’s proximity to the King Khalid International Airport is also expected to make it a prime location for international businesses, especially in the tech and tourism industries.

The Saudi government’s backing of the New Murabba initiative signals a strong commitment to its diversification efforts. As part of the Vision 2030 programme, the kingdom is looking to foster a more sustainable and diversified economy, moving away from its dependence on oil exports. This development aligns with broader trends in urbanisation across the Middle East, where large-scale projects are shaping the future of cities and driving economic change.

The investment opportunities presented by New Murabba are expected to attract a wide range of investors from various sectors. For real estate developers, the sheer scale of the project represents an unparalleled opportunity. For technology firms, the integration of smart city technologies offers a unique environment in which to develop and test innovative solutions. Meanwhile, the construction sector stands to benefit greatly from the demand for infrastructure and buildings, with the long-term potential for growth in both residential and commercial spaces.

With the Saudi government’s push for private sector involvement, the New Murabba project is expected to be a catalyst for further investments in the kingdom. The involvement of international investors and companies will be crucial to its success, with the project acting as a gateway to other opportunities within Saudi Arabia’s growing economy.

India is positioning itself as a global food supplier using Dubai as the logistical gateway, according to statements made by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh during his visit to the UAE. He declared that India’s strengths in agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture and logistics will enable the country to serve “the global community” through Dubai’s market access.

Naidu spoke of the UAE city’s strategic connectivity and global reach as ideal for scaling Indian-food exports. He noted that the Andhra Pradesh government is aiming to reduce logistics costs by integrating inland waterways, railways, road and seaports, and by spending around 14 per cent of the state’s GDP on logistics infrastructure as part of the drive to increase efficiency. His role as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh places him at the centre of an ambitious push to offer the state as a manufacturing and supply-chain hub with Indian agriculture at its core.

The announcement comes amid a broader investment road-show in which Naidu met with senior policymakers and business leaders in the UAE to discuss partnerships across multiple sectors, including food processing, green energy, AI and infrastructure. During a dialogue in Dubai the chief minister stated that India will supply food to the global community through Dubai as a hub, adding that he met ministers, family-business leaders and airlines executives during the visit. He praised the Indian diaspora for their contributions and flagged the state’s goal of making the new capital Amaravati a “green and blue city” built around water, greenery and advanced infrastructure.

Andhra Pradesh’s food-processing ambitions are a central plank of the strategy. The state government has invited investment from UAE food-conglomerates to scale cocoa cultivation, chocolate manufacturing, aquaculture and related logistics. The Chinese food-industry trend of “value-added exports” is echoed by India’s attempt to move beyond raw agricultural exports towards packaged, processed and high-logistics-integrated supply chains.

From a trade perspective, positioning Dubai as a re-export hub can offer Indian producers quicker access to Middle East, African and European markets. Dubai’s status as a global logistics and trading hub gives India the opportunity to piggy-back on existing infrastructure and reach. It also offers investors assurances of regulatory, financial and physical connectivity.

However, a number of challenges stand in the way. India already faces structural issues in agriculture: fragmented landholdings, variable productivity, post-harvest losses, and high domestic logistics costs. While Naidu cites a logistics cost of about 14 per cent of GDP for Andhra Pradesh, the national average remains higher and such a figure implies major optimisation ahead. The use of Dubai as a hub also raises questions of tariff regimes, transit duties, warehousing handling cost and competition from other international producers using the Gulf as re-export platforms.

Critics also point to the risk of over-promising on export capacity. India’s agriculture export ratio remains modest relative to the size of its production, and moving up the value chain into globally competitive processed foods will require investment in cold-chain infrastructure, quality standards and market-specific certifications. The reliance on a single state’s announcement may also raise concerns about federal coordination and falling short of expectations if broader national agricultural reforms lag.

Gulf states are emerging as influential players in digital assets, with governments across the region intensifying efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies, tokenisation and Web3 innovations. A growing number of jurisdictions are introducing licensing frameworks for virtual asset service providers, stablecoin regimes and asset-tokenisation structures, signalling a shift in strategy from reactive oversight to proactive design.

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has introduced a Payment Token Services Regulation that obliges issuers, distributors and custodians of payment tokens to maintain full reserve backing, undergo mandatory licensing and meet robust anti-money-laundering and cybersecurity standards, thereby positioning the UAE as a regulatory pioneer in the region. Across the region, countries such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have developed layered digital-asset frameworks, with Bahrain’s central bank among the earliest movers and Saudi launching fintech sandboxes and pilot token-asset schemes under its Vision 2030 plan.

Market data underline these developments. Analysis shows that between July 2023 and June 2024 the Middle East and North Africa region handled some US$338.7 billion in on-chain crypto value, accounting for approximately 7.5 per cent of global transaction volume. Institutional flows dominate: about 93 per cent of value transferred in the region came in amounts of US$10,000 or more.

Several regional platforms have obtained new licences under this regulatory push. The region’s first licensed crypto-asset service provider, Rain Financial Inc., has expanded its services under licence from both Bahrain’s regulator and Abu Dhabi’s ADGM-FSRA. In Bahrain, over 50 firms including nearly half focused on digital-assets are in discussions to establish operations under the Central Bank’s regime.

The tokenisation of real-world assets is gaining traction, with banks and global institutions exploring issuance of token-backed bonds, real estate and commodity-linked tokens. According to consultancy research, tokenisation could add as much as US$230 billion annually to MENA-region GDP. Major international exchanges and asset-managers are establishing footholds: for instance, the global exchange Binance uses the UAE as its regional base and has obtained a licence under Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

Despite this momentum, the region faces challenges. Implementation remains uneven: regulatory capacity across jurisdictions varies, local consumer-protection rules are still emerging and cybersecurity vulnerabilities in wallet providers and exchanges pose material risk. Energy-use and environmental impacts of crypto-mining have also drawn regulatory scrutiny: in one Gulf city, electricity consumption fell by over fifty per cent after enforcement of mining curbs.

Taxation and corporate-governance issues are also under development. In Saudi Arabia individuals currently pay no capital-gains tax on crypto, though businesses may face up to 15 per cent tax with corporate income taxed at 20 per cent plus a 2.5 per cent zakat levy. Given the youth-skewed demographics of Gulf markets and high smartphone penetration, regulators see digital-assets as both a diversification lever and a conduit to broader fintech innovation.

For global crypto and Web3 players the Gulf region offers a combination of clear regulation, large capital pools and government-driven ambition. However firms must navigate rigorous licensing conditions, reserve-backing rules, AML frameworks and evolving governance standards. The regulatory focus on stability and consumer protection underscores that the region expects digital-asset innovation to be embedded in mainstream finance rather than existing outside it.

Global oil prices climbed sharply following new sanctions targeting Russia’s major producers, underscoring how geopolitical risk is once again reshaping the energy sector. The United States moved to impose measures against Rosneft and Lukoil, companies that together account for roughly half of Russia’s oil production. The measures froze U. S. assets of the companies, barred American business dealings and threatened secondary penalties for third-party entities dealing with them.

The immediate market reaction was decisive. Brent crude rose by about 5.7 per cent after the announcement, while U. S. futures recorded their most significant one-day jump in over four months. Supply concerns and uncertainty around the disruption of Russian flows have added a new premium to oil prices. Some analysts describe this as the return of the “geopolitical risk premium” that had subsided earlier this year.

Key dynamics are emerging in the global energy landscape. One of them is the pressure on refineries in China and India that have heavily relied on Russian crude. With sanctions threatening secondary penalties, buyers are reconsidering their linkages. The ramifications extend beyond immediate flows: Russia’s ability to route crude via its so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers and opaque trading chains may be challenged further, complicating its export capacity.

From the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin described the U. S. move as “unfriendly” and warned it could backfire by pushing up global oil costs. However, Moscow also signalled that production would continue, and previous sanctions have not immediately led to a collapse in output, suggesting resilience and adaptation persist in the Russian energy sector.

For the buyer nations, the calculus is shifting. Indian and Chinese refineries, which have depended on discounted Russian grades, now face the risk of being cut off from Western-dollar financing, insurance and shipping links if they flout U. S. rules. The potential loss of Russian supply at discount could create a scramble for alternative sources. Meanwhile, Russia may turn more aggressively towards friendly states or deepen barter trade, but such shifts would likely come with higher costs and logistical complexity. Analysts argue that the global spare capacity outside OPEC is already thin, so any reduction in Russian supply could tighten the market further.

In financial markets the impact is tangible. Energy stocks in Europe rose alongside oil prices, while Russian stock indices registered losses on the back of sanction pressure. Firms in the Asia-Pacific region with exposure to Russian crude may face heightened risk premiums or supply disruptions. The confluence of sanctions and market reactions underscores how inter-linked energy flows, geopolitics and financial exposure have become.

On the structural front, situation highlights the ongoing challenge of sanction enforcement. The U. S. Treasury and allied agencies are increasingly focusing not just on Russia’s producers but the broader ecosystem: shipping, insurance, finance. The effectiveness of these measures depends upon the willingness of non-U. S. players to comply and the ability of Russia to create work-arounds through alternative trade routes. The efficiency of existing infrastructure, the cost of shipping to farther markets, and the reliability of insurance all factor into how quickly Russian production or exports may come under strain.

Mumbai-based crypto exchange WazirX has enabled both Indian-rupee and cryptocurrency deposits as it moves toward resuming full trading and withdrawal services, signalling a critical recovery phase after its high-profile $230-million hack. The platform will initiate trading on 24 October 2025, launching with zero trading fees across all pairs for at least 30 days, and is rolling out withdrawals gradually.

WazirX’s comeback is anchored on a restructuring plan approved by the Singapore High Court for its parent company Zanmai Labs Private Limited, which had been navigating creditor claims and asset recovery since the breach. The company has partnered with US-based custodian BitGo to manage digital-asset wallets and bolster security with insured, institutional-grade custody solutions.

Operating under a phased restart, WazirX will first enable crypto-to-crypto markets and the USDT/INR pair from 24 October, with other INR pairs added later. Deposits are active now; withdrawals will follow in stages. Users who opted in to the restructuring will receive so-called “Recovery Tokens” within ten business days, representing claims on illiquid or frozen assets.

This relaunch occurs after the July 2024 hack — attributed to the Lazarus Group by multiple governments — in which WazirX exposed vulnerabilities that resulted in loss of approximately $234 million in digital assets and triggered a suspension of trading, withdrawals and deposits. The setback had eroded trust among India’s crypto retail community and drawn regulatory scrutiny.

WazirX co-founder and CEO Nischal Shetty acknowledged the challenge of restoring confidence, stating on social media: “Our focus is only YOU — we are committed to a secure and transparent restart.” Still, some users have raised concerns over discrepancies in post-rebalancing balances, alleging that their credited holdings were lower than earlier display values. WazirX has pledged to release a detailed audit and reconcile any shortfalls.

Industry analysts view WazirX’s relaunch as a litmus test for Indian crypto exchanges, which have faced security, regulatory and trust-deficit issues. While the zero-fee offer may stimulate trading volume and liquidity, questions remain over how effectively WazirX can demonstrate enhanced operational resilience and compliance oversight. Further complicating matters is India’s evolving regulatory landscape: a proposed crypto-assets bill is under discussion, and exchange-licensing frameworks remain undefined.

For traders, the phased rollout presents both opportunity and risk. Market-makers caution that liquidity may be thin in the initial days, potentially creating wider spreads or slippage. WazirX’s blog announcement advises users to monitor token availability, confirm order execution conditions and treat first-day price action with caution. With a delisting of some tokens and swaps or mergers during the downtime, certainty over token status is also being tested.