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Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Capacity scale-ups to drive Epigral's ₹5,000 crore target by FY31: CMD Maulik Patel

Specialty chemicals manufacturer Epigral is targeting revenue of ₹5,000 crore by 2030-31, driven by upcoming production scale-ups in CPVC Resin and Epichlorohydrin (ECH), a senior company executive said. The company expects to reach ₹2,900 crore in revenue this fiscal year following revenue of ₹2,500–2,530 crore in 2026. "In FY26, we ended with around ₹2,500-2,530 crore of revenue, and at the current pace of growth, we expect around ₹2,900 crore this financial year. "The capacity increase in production of CPVC Resin and ECH will start adding to the revenue from next year. Therefore, we are expecting to double our revenue to around Rs 5,000 crore by 2030-31," Epigral Chairman and Managing Director Maulik Patel told PTI. The company's CPVC Resin capacity is being doubled from 75,000 TPA to 1,50,000 TPA, while ECH capacity is being doubled from 50,000 TPA to 1,00,000 TPA at the company's existing units in Dahej, Gujarat. "Both capacity expansions are expected to be commissioned within a couple of months. The capex of ₹650 crore for this phase of capacity expansion of both projects is almost over and they will begin contributing to the topline partially this year, more meaningfully from the next financial year. The capex for both projects was raised entirely through internal accruals," he added. Post 2019, the Gujarat-based company with a sizable balance sheet decided to enter products that are more of an import substitute. Epigral entered the Epichlorohydrin (ECH) and CPVC resin businesses in 2022 and has successfully commissioned and operated both plants in Dahej, he said. "To produce import-substitute chemicals, we became the first Indian company to manufacture ECH using a 100 per cent renewable glycerine-based process instead of the crude-oil-based propylene route used in the West -- a deliberately greener product. “We also started manufacturing CPVC resin and have already become India's largest producer; with the doubling of capacity, we will become the world's largest manufacturer in this category," he added. Further, Patel said, Epigral has bought new land at Dahej, close to the existing plant, for an entirely new chemistry line - still in the process of finalising a technology partner, expected to go to the board in another quarter. He described it as import substitution again, similar in category to CPVC and ECH but at a much larger scale -- a molecule where roughly 90 per cent of Indian demand is currently imported.

Capacity scale-ups to drive Epigral's ₹5,000 crore target by FY31: CMD Maulik Patel
Europe
BBC Business

Billionaire Man United owner loses moral high ground after tax exile, Labour chair says

ByScott Duffield, Political reporter and Rachel Clun, Business reporterPublished26 minutes agoThe Labour Party chair has said Sir Jim Ratcliffe loses "the moral high ground" by making statements about the UK while living in tax exile. Speaking to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Bridget Phillipson said she would take the billionaire businessman's comments that the UK was "on the slide" with a "pinch of salt". Sir Jim, the founder of petrochemical giant Ineos and Manchester United's co-owner, told the BBC he has lost confidence in the UK due to a combination of high taxes and high immigration. He has been a tax resident in Monaco since 2020 and said "things would have to get better" in the UK for him to return. When questioned over the remarks, Phillipson said Sir Jim loses "the moral high ground" by "making these kinds of pronouncements while choosing to make decisions, that he is within his rights to make, to become a tax exile". Pushed on whether it bothers her that people who create jobs and pay a lot of tax were leaving the UK, the minister said she was "optimistic about our country's prospects". Other high profile billionaires have left the UK, including including steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and most recently the UK's third biggest taxpayer, hedge-fund boss Chris Rokos. But, Philipson argued the country was in a good position ahead of the Budget next month, and Andy Burnham has shown a "sense of hope and optimism whilst recognising that many families are still struggling and there is more to do." "Of course, there are challenges, including big international headwinds, but I fundamentally believe that we are in a strong position going into this budget because of the decisions taken over the last two years, and I believe our country's best days lie ahead of us," she said. Philipson declined to speculate over whether there would be tax rises in the Budget on 28 October, and said the government remained committed to being disciplined about its spending rules. Sir Jim, whose wealth is estimated to be about £15bn, also criticised the government for failing to invest further in North Sea oil and gas, claiming it amounted to "insanity". "You would expect [the government] to exploit our natural resources and we're clearly not doing that. We're shutting it down.

Billionaire Man United owner loses moral high ground after tax exile, Labour chair says
Europe
BBC Business

Chiltern Railways renationalised after 30 years

Chiltern Railways has been brought into public ownership after 30 years as a private company. It is the 10th rail company now under the Great British Railways (GBR), the government's programme of public ownership, which it says will save money and improve services. Chiltern Railways, which was privatised in 1996, operates services from London Marylebone to Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, as well as destinations in the West Midlands. The government said the transfer into public ownership would tackle overcrowding by introducing 25 additional daily services from December. The start of the first day of public ownership saw some disruption, with Chiltern warning the line between Birmingham and Marylebone, external was "expected to be much busier" due to the late notice of the West Coast Main Line closure affecting services at London Euston. The operator said it would run more trains than usual between the stations with significantly enhanced capacity. The Department for Transport (DfT) said the additional weekday services under GBR would provide 10,000 extra seats. They would include half hourly services during weekdays on the Chiltern Main Line between London and Birmingham, as well as more weekend services. Rail minister Lord Peter Hendy met staff at Marylebone Station on Thursday alongside the first Chiltern train in the GBR livery. "The most difficult thing on Chiltern is that it's shorter capacity and those extra trains and those extra seats will make a real difference to people travelling on this line up here from Marylebone every day," he said. The rollout of the new trains would also improve accessibility and provide better Wi-Fi on board, the rail operator said. From Sunday, passengers whose train had been cancelled can use another operator's service two hours either side of their train to get to their destination at no extra cost, it added.

Chiltern Railways renationalised after 30 years
Europe
BBC Business

Interest rates hold expected but Bank of England facing tough choices

Image source, Getty ImagesByKevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentPublished4 hours agoPolicymakers at the Bank of England are expected to keep interest rates unchanged despite price rises accelerating due to the prolonged conflict in the Middle East. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has been meeting amid a backdrop of increasing global energy prices and interest rate rises around the world. Economists expect the MPC to hold the benchmark Bank rate at 3.75% for a sixth consecutive meeting but analysts are more divided on whether the rate will need to go up before the end of the year. The Bank rate is crucial in setting the benchmark for banks and other lenders in setting interest for individuals and businesses borrowing and saving money. The latest interest rate decision will be announced by the Bank at 12:00 BST on Thursday. Following its previous meeting at the end of July, the MPC indicated it could raise the Bank rate if the Iran war escalated. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey told the BBC at the time: "If we get a continuation of this conflict going on and oil prices stay above $100 a barrel... the odds are that interest rates will have to go up higher." Oil prices moved above the $100 (£74) level on 9 September, and have remained there since, and there are few signs of a lasting truce in the Iran war. The Bank uses interest rates to control inflation, which charts the rising cost of living. It aims to keep inflation at a target rate of 2%. However, official figures released on Wednesday showed the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation had risen to 3.1% in August from 2.9% in July, pushing it to its highest rate in six months. The acceleration was driven by rises in the cost of petrol, diesel and airfares. Economists expect that higher global energy costs will feed through to food and fuel prices paid by consumers, meaning the inflation rate is yet to peak.

Interest rates hold expected but Bank of England facing tough choices
Europe
The Guardian

US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the first time since 2023

Kevin Warsh at the Federal Reserve in in Washington in July. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersView image in fullscreenKevin Warsh at the Federal Reserve in in Washington in July. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersFederal ReserveUS Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the first time since 2023Trump urges lower rates after central bank agrees increase by quarter-percentage point to range of 3.75% to 4% The US Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since 2023 as the central bank continues to fight to tamp down inflation. The Fed’s open market committee voted unanimously to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%. This is the first time the Fed has raised rates since July 2023 and potentially sets Kevin Warsh, the current Fed chair, on a collision course with Donald Trump. “The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” Warsh said on Wednesday. “This summer’s inflation readings do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.” After the announcement, Trump said in a Truth Social post that interest rates should be 1% or less and criticized the US trade deficit. Trump said the US would make “at least 1.5 Trillion Dollars a year” if it were to stop trading with countries with which it has a deficit. Though Warsh acknowledged changing geopolitics, he avoided calling out the US-Israel war with Iran by name. “There’s no hiding from hotspots around the world, and our judgment about what is the most likely or least likely of the geopolitical situation has changed,” he said. Warsh also declined to answer questions about how Trump would react but reiterated that Fed independence was “a two-way street”. “We will let people that do trade policy and fiscal policy stay in their lane. That is the way we can stand up here and call them the way we see them,” he said. New projections showed a majority of officials penciled in another rate hike before the year’s end, with four officials predicting the Fed’s benchmark interest rate would reach a range of 4.25% to 4.5% by the end of the year. And though estimates on the country’s economic growth and unemployment rate were upbeat, Fed officials believed it would take roughly until 2029 for inflation to reach its 2% goal. At its last meeting in late July, the open market committee voted 9-3 to maintain rates, the first time in 10 years that so many members shared dissent on a policy decision. Since then, the US and Iran have renewed attacks against each other, driving up the Brent crude benchmark to its highest levels in month.

US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the first time since 2023
North America
CNBC Finance

American Airlines says 30% of seats drive half of revenue as premium cabin rush heats up

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Wednesday that just 30% of its seats account for half of the company's revenue, a proportion that has the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier and competitors large and small ripping up existing airplane configurations to add more first-class and other higher-yielding options. "Those 30% of seats, they're only going to grow in our fleet as the reconfigurations come on board as the new aircraft deliveries come on," Isom said at a Morgan Stanley industry conference, referring to the carrier's premium seat options. The airline earlier this month unveiled a monster 70-suite business-class cabin on its largest aircraft, a Boeing 777-300ER, with more planes still awaiting their remodeling. American had fallen behind its large airline competitors in profits. Isom has said that adding premium seating to capitalize on higher-spending customers, a resilient and bright spot in air travel, is key, especially as airlines try to cover this year's surge in fuel costs, their second-largest expense after labor. Even smaller and budget carriers like Allegiant Air and JetBlue Airways are adding upgraded seat options to appeal to those flyers. Isom told CNBC in June that the airline is also planning a revamp of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and that new interiors on its 777-200s are also on tap. The carrier is set to order new wide-body aircraft this year, Isom said. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

American Airlines says 30% of seats drive half of revenue as premium cabin rush heats up
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

CCPA slaps ₹10 lakh fine on Amazon, Flipkart; ₹5 lakh on JioMart over unregistered herbicide sales

CCPA imposed penalties of ₹10 lakh each on Amazon and Flipkart, and ₹5 lakh on JioMart. | Photo Credit: Dado Ruvic The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed penalties of ₹10 lakh each on Amazon and Flipkart, and ₹5 lakh on JioMart, for selling and advertising an unregistered agro-chemical product called 'Cyclosinone Herbicide' on their platforms. In a separate order dated September 22, the consumer protection regulator directed the three e-commerce companies to immediately discontinue the sale and advertisement of the product, which it found was being marketed without disclosing the chemical name of its active ingredient or its composition. The CCPA also directed the platforms to conduct a self-audit to prevent listings of products that contravene existing law or pose a hazard to consumer safety, and asked them to submit compliance reports within 15 days of the order. The investigation was triggered after the CCPA received a complaint forwarded by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, originally filed by the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI). During the probe, the Agriculture Ministry informed the CCPA that no chemical by the name "Cyclosinone" is listed in the Schedule to the Insecticides Act, 1968, meaning the product's sale and marketing bypassed mandatory safety, bio-efficacy, quality and legal checks required under the law. The CCPA noted that the marketplaces had not carried out adequate independent verification of the product's regulatory status before allowing the listings to go live. In its order against Amazon, the regulator cited 38,410 orders involving 43,634 units, with an aggregate sale value of ₹96,42,572/- as evidence of the scale of consumer exposure and the misleading impression created among buyers. Rejecting the platforms' defence that compliance responsibility lay contractually with individual sellers, the CCPA held that a private arrangement between a marketplace and its sellers cannot override statutory obligations imposed by Parliament or delegated legislation meant to protect consumers. It said the very requirement of obtaining a seller undertaking shows that the marketplace itself carries a compliance obligation, and it is not enough to merely point to contractual terms with sellers. The regulator also invoked Rule 4(3) of the E-Commerce Rules, which bars e-commerce entities from adopting unfair trade practices in the course of business. "Sellers may submit false or incomplete declarations in order to list their products. Therefore, relying only on self-declaration is inadequate. It reflects gross negligence and deficiencies in the Opposite Party's seller onboarding procedures, product verification and content moderation mechanisms," the CCPA observed.

CCPA slaps ₹10 lakh fine on Amazon, Flipkart; ₹5 lakh on JioMart over unregistered herbicide sales
North America
CNBC Economy

Indonesia's new finance minister faces an uphill battle on fiscal credibility

Indonesia just got its third third finance minister in two years, putting the spotlight on concerns plaguing Southeast Asia's largest economy, with analysts flagging the need for fiscal prudence and a shift away from "interventionist" policy. President Prabowo Subianto fired Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on Monday and replaced him with his deputy Suahasil Nazara. The reshuffle comes weeks after Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo abruptly resigned, intensifying scrutiny over how much control Prabowo now wields over fiscal and monetary policy. For investors, elevating a known technocrat could restore confidence, after a combative year under Purbaya that saw credit-rating outlooks cut and the currency slide to historic lows this year. Nazara, sworn in hours after Purbaya's dismissal, spent seven years as deputy finance minister and led the ministry's fiscal policy agency from 2015 to 2019. "He is a known technocrat with deep Finance Ministry experience and strong links to the Sri Mulyani era," said Qi Hang Tay, senior Asia analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. His internal pedigree "lowers transition risk" because he already understands the budget machinery, Tay said. Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, described it as "a welcome development," though more evidence of improvements in policymaking would be needed to conclude that Indonesia has "truly turned a corner." Indonesia's economy came under pressure this year, squeezed by the Iran war-led energy crisis and mounting fiscal constraints. Surging energy costs drove up subsidy costs, forcing cuts to key flagship programs. Markets have reacted badly, with the benchmark index losing more than 25% this year, and the currency hitting record lows in June. A subsequent pivot toward fiscal discipline, however, has helped stabilize sentiment over the past month. The rupiah has strengthened, and was at 17,680 per dollar on Wednesday. DBS Bank economist Radhika Rao expects the currency to trade in a range of 17,600 to 17,800 near-term, with fiscal credibility underpinning the bond market and shoring up the currency. The country's fiscal deficit is expected to widen to 2.85% of GDP in 2026, with Purbaya's 1-year tenure marked by credit outlook downgrades from Fitch and Moody's over policy uncertainty, even as the country's growth climbed to three-year highs. "The new finance minister will need to be much clearer about his priorities and provide investors with more consistent signals on fiscal policy," Leather said. "Early signs are encouraging," he said, as Nazara, in his first remarks as minister, vowed to safeguard the budget's credibility and pledged to keep the deficit below 3% of GDP.

Indonesia's new finance minister faces an uphill battle on fiscal credibility
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Odisha floods: 70,000 evacuated as 13 districts face flash floods, waterlogging

A view of a strong current of floodwater washing over a road following heavy rainfall that triggered a flood-like situation in the Banpur area, in Khordha on Saturday, September 26, 2026. | Photo Credit: ANI The Odisha government on Saturday evacuated over 70,000 people living in low-lying areas to safety and housed them in 395 relief camps as all rivers in the state swelled due to heavy rainfall over the past few days, officials said. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will conduct an aerial survey of the affected areas in south Odisha on Sunday morning. Flash floods and incidents of water-logging have been reported from 13 districts -- Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Keonjhar, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Bolangir and Jagatsinghpur, they said. The coastal district of Balasore was among the worst hit as three major rivers were flowing above their danger level. The water level of the Subarnarekha River was flowing at 11.07 meters at Jaleswar’s Rajghat at 5 pm against the danger level of 10.36 metres. This has led to flooding in the villages in Bhograi, Jaleswar, Baliapal and Basta blocks, the officials said. Budhabalang was flowing above the danger level at 8.8 metres over NH-16 at Govindpur at 3 pm. Other rivers such as Kansabansa, Soa and Gangahar were also in spate in Balasore, they said. In Mayurbhanj, authorities of Similipal National Park have announced temporary closure of Devkund, a tourist destination, and visitors were discouraged to visit the sanctuary as several streams and water channels have experienced a significant rise in water levels, an official said. Heavy rainfall has also resulted in the washing away or damaging of bridges and culverts on the access route to Devkund, he said. The floodwaters of Budhabalang River entered some areas in Baripada municipality, and Badasahi, Betanati, Udala, Kaptipada, Saraskana, Rasagobindapur blocks. Meanwhile, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said 11 more gates of the Hirakud Dam had to be opened on Saturday to release excess water from the reservoir. “We have to open more gates due to heavy rainfall in the upper catchment area of Mahanadi River in Chhattisgarh. At present, water level is at 629.56 feet against the full reservoir level of 630 feet,” a senior official said, adding that people living in the floodplains and low-lying areas have been asked to remain alert.

Odisha floods: 70,000 evacuated as 13 districts face flash floods, waterlogging