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India has cut special excise duties on petrol and diesel after a sharp rise in global crude prices, seeking to shield consumers from a broader inflation shock as the Iran war and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz continue to unsettle energy markets. A government order issued late on Thursday reduced the special excise duty on petrol to Rs 3 a litre from Rs 13, while the levy on diesel was removed entirely from Rs 10 a litre. At the same time, New Delhi imposed fresh windfall taxes on diesel and aviation turbine fuel exports to recover part of the revenue loss and manage the fiscal hit.

The move underlines the pressure facing policymakers as oil prices remain volatile and the rupee weakens, raising the cost of imports for one of the world’s biggest crude buyers. Brent crude climbed above $112 a barrel on Friday, extending a rally driven by doubts over any near-term ceasefire and persistent fears that supply disruptions in the Gulf could deepen. Traders and analysts have said the risk premium now reflects not only lost barrels but also the strategic importance of Hormuz, through which a large share of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

For India, the tax cut is as much about inflation management as political optics. Retail prices at state-run fuel retailers have been largely held steady even as global crude costs have climbed, forcing public-sector oil marketing companies to absorb losses on every litre sold. Reuters reported that those losses were running at about Rs 24 a litre on petrol and Rs 30 on diesel at the time of the duty cut, a burden that had begun to raise concerns about the financial strain on the country’s dominant fuel retailers. By lowering excise duties, the government creates room for those companies to keep pump prices stable without taking the full blow on their balance sheets.

That relief, however, comes with a cost. The excise reduction is expected to trim government revenue by roughly Rs 70 billion every fortnight, with the net impact estimated at about Rs 55 billion after accounting for the new export levies on diesel and jet fuel. Those numbers matter because New Delhi is already balancing slower growth risks, higher import costs and sensitivity in bond markets. India’s 10-year government bond yield rose as investors weighed the inflationary impact of oil and the possibility that fiscal targets may come under pressure if energy turbulence persists.

Currency markets have been sending a similar warning. The rupee slipped beyond 94 to the US dollar, marking a record low and capping its weakest fiscal-year performance in more than a decade. Higher oil prices have compounded external pressures by widening import costs and fuelling worries over inflation, while signs of reduced support from the Reserve Bank of India have added to volatility in both the currency and government debt markets. The combination of a softer rupee and expensive crude intensifies the urgency for measures that can prevent fuel inflation from feeding into transport, food and manufacturing costs.

The government has paired the tax changes with broader supply assurances. Officials have said retail fuel prices will remain stable and that supplies of fuel, fertiliser and coal are adequate. India has also increased the availability of liquefied petroleum gas for industrial use, an indication that authorities are trying to prevent energy stress from spilling into factories and power demand. That broader messaging is aimed at containing panic in a market already on edge over whether the Middle East conflict could trigger a more prolonged energy shock.

The burden of holding down prices has not been distributed evenly across the sector. State-run retailers, which control more than 90 per cent of the country’s fuel stations, have largely refrained from raising pump prices, while private players have begun adjusting. Nayara Energy, for example, increased gasoline and gasoil prices this week, citing the combined impact of a weaker rupee and surging global crude prices. The divergence highlights the structural challenge for the government: keeping inflation contained without unduly damaging the finances of state-backed refiners and marketers.

Digital Realty has begun providing colocation infrastructure to Samsung Electronics at its ICN10 facility in Seoul, a deal that highlights how large corporate users in South Korea are seeking more resilient, high-density digital infrastructure as artificial intelligence, cloud services and mission-critical enterprise workloads put heavier demands on power, cooling and connectivity. The announcement was made on March 25 by Digital Realty, which said the arrangement would support Samsung Electronics’ enterprise IT operations from its Seoul site.

The ICN10 facility, located in Sangam-dong in Mapo-gu, has been operating since 2022 and is described by the company as South Korea’s first carrier-neutral data centre. Digital Realty says the building has a maximum IT load of 12 megawatts and around 132,000 square feet of space, with high-density power architecture, network connectivity and the resilience needed for large-scale computing environments. Those specifications matter because enterprise clients are no longer looking only for secure rack space; they increasingly want facilities that can handle denser compute loads without compromising uptime.

For Samsung Electronics, the move points to a practical shift in how even large technology groups manage parts of their own internal infrastructure. Rather than relying exclusively on self-operated facilities, major companies are turning to specialist operators for colocation capacity that can be scaled more quickly and managed to global standards. Digital Realty framed the arrangement as support for a large-scale customer environment in Korea, while emphasising stable, high-performance infrastructure for global enterprises. That wording suggests the deal is less about consumer-facing products and more about the backbone systems that keep a multinational company running across data-intensive operations.

The timing is notable because Seoul’s data-centre market is expanding while facing mounting strain over where future capacity can be built and how it will be powered. Cushman & Wakefield said the Greater Seoul Area reached 533 megawatts of capacity in the first half of 2025, with a further 715 megawatts in the development pipeline, alongside land secured for another 250 megawatts. Its later market update said the second half of 2025 saw double-digit year-on-year growth, while AI demand and tighter power-related rules were reshaping development patterns. That combination of growth and constraint is pushing operators and customers alike to value operational certainty.

South Korea’s broader technology push adds another layer to that demand story. Reuters reported this week that Seoul approved a 250 billion won investment in AI chip startup Rebellions, part of a wider effort to strengthen domestic semiconductor and advanced computing capabilities. Reuters also reported that SK Hynix is pursuing a US listing partly to fund major chipmaking investments tied to rising AI demand. Those moves sit outside the colocation market itself, but they reinforce the same structural point: processing power, data movement and digital infrastructure are becoming more strategically important across the economy.

Digital Realty’s position in Seoul also reflects a larger contest among global and regional operators seeking to capture Asia’s enterprise and cloud demand. Market research and adviser reports point to South Korea as one of the faster-growing data-centre markets in the region, driven by digital-first consumers, cloud adoption and increased enterprise modernisation. JLL’s 2026 outlook said the global data-centre sector could nearly double between 2025 and 2030, while other market estimates show South Korea’s colocation and broader data-centre segments expanding strongly through the decade. Forecasts from commercial research firms should be treated cautiously, but taken together with operator activity and land acquisition trends, they show why Seoul has become a closely watched infrastructure market.

The Samsung agreement may not be transformative in size on its own, yet it carries signalling value. When one of the country’s largest technology groups places enterprise workloads with an external colocation provider, it gives weight to the argument that carrier-neutral, high-density facilities are becoming integral to mainstream corporate IT strategy rather than serving only cloud giants and telecom operators. It also strengthens Digital Realty’s credentials in a market where network diversity, reliability and location all matter.

Questions remain over how quickly South Korea can add capacity in and around Seoul without worsening power bottlenecks or pushing new builds further from the capital’s main concentration of corporate demand. Legal and advisory analyses have pointed to the mismatch between the location of generation capacity and the heavy concentration of data centres around metropolitan Seoul. That tension is likely to shape the next phase of expansion, forcing operators to balance geography, power access and customer proximity more carefully than before.

Expansion strengthens access to fast, reliable device repair services across Jurong, Yishun, Tampines and Chinatown as demand for urgent technical support rises

What often begins as a minor inconvenience can quickly escalate. A phone may take longer to charge, a screen may flicker briefly before stabilising, or a laptop may run hotter than usual during routine use. These early signs are often ignored until the device stops functioning at a critical moment.

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C3 Smart Repair By Citri Mobile

Singapore-linked professional bodies and trade groups have opened a Professional Services Centre in Nanjing, pitching it as a gateway for Chinese companies seeking to expand into Southeast Asia and for Singapore firms looking to deepen their footprint in China. The launch took place on March 27 at a forum in Nanjing and marks the alliance’s second centre in China and third globally, according to the announcement distributed by the organisers.

The centre has been set up under an alliance led by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and supported by the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises, Institute of Valuers & Appraisers, Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Singapore Manufacturing Federation, Tax Academy of Singapore and the Law Society of Singapore. Organisers said the Nanjing base is intended to provide companies with legal, tax, accounting, valuation, advisory and market-entry support as they navigate cross-border expansion. The move comes as commercial links between China and ASEAN continue to broaden and as businesses face a more complex regulatory and geopolitical environment when operating across jurisdictions.

Nanjing was presented as a deliberate choice rather than a symbolic one. The alliance said the city offers strong university linkages, talent pools and institutional support, while the Singapore-Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island provides an established platform for bilateral cooperation. That project is jointly backed by authorities in Jiangsu and Nanjing as well as Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, giving the new centre an anchor in a corridor that already carries a Singapore brand in east China.

Officials used the launch to underline the commercial logic. Nanjing Vice Mayor Xu Feng said enterprises expanding overseas depend on professional services support and described Singapore as a global hub with complementary strengths. Ernie Koh, a council member at Singapore Business Federation and vice-chairman of the research and publications committee at Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said the platform could help enterprises build capabilities and unlock opportunities across Southeast Asia. Darren Ku, a council member at ASME, said smaller companies in particular need a more coordinated route into foreign markets, from compliance to market-entry strategy. Daniel Koh, vice-president of the Law Society of Singapore, framed the legal dimension as equally important, arguing that cross-border growth now demands stronger risk management and regulatory advice.

The alliance is presenting the centre as more than a ceremonial office. It says its centres in China and Vietnam have already supported more than 100 businesses, and cited BIPO, the human resources technology group, as one example of a company that used the ecosystem to establish operations and build local teams in Nanjing. Those claims could not be independently verified from public disclosures in full, but they fit the broader trend of service providers bundling market access, compliance and talent support for companies trying to expand across Asia without building every capability in-house.

That broader trend matters. Enterprise Singapore continues to position China as a major destination for outward expansion, pointing to its scale, consumer market and innovation ecosystem, while also offering grants and overseas market assistance to firms venturing abroad. At the same time, ASEAN’s own data show the region’s trade in goods rose to about $3.8 trillion in 2024, and ASEAN says two-way merchandise trade with China reached $772.4 billion that year, accounting for roughly a fifth of ASEAN’s total trade. Chinese media and official commentary have since pointed to China-ASEAN trade crossing the $1 trillion mark in 2025, underscoring why service platforms that specialise in cross-border operations are multiplying.

Commercial opportunity, however, does not remove the risks. China is trying to reassure foreign investors after weaker inbound investment figures, while international companies remain alert to policy shifts, compliance burdens, data rules and geopolitical tensions. Reuters reported this month that Beijing has been signalling a more open stance to foreign business even as it works to reverse a decline in foreign direct investment. For Chinese firms heading south, Southeast Asia offers growth, manufacturing diversification and access to younger consumer markets, but it also presents a patchwork of tax regimes, legal systems and political risks that can complicate expansion plans. That is precisely the gap the Nanjing centre says it wants to fill.

The launch also reflects a wider Singapore strategy of exporting professional and business services alongside capital and trade links. Earlier alliance messaging around the Shanghai centre described a “hunt in a pack” model in which multiple associations expand together so companies can tap a bundled network rather than isolated advisers. That approach appears to be carrying over into Nanjing, with the added emphasis on helping Chinese enterprises invest in Singapore and across ASEAN, not only on helping Singapore firms move into China.