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On WCRC Leaders

Infosys cuts FY27 guidance to 1-2% as AI reaches 10.5% of revenue

Infosys cuts FY27 guidance to 1-2% as AI reaches 10.5% of revenue

Infosys signed $5.2bn of large deals and grew AI revenue 29% in a quarter, then lowered its full-year growth outlook for the second time in three months. India's IT bellwether has the order book and the AI story. What it does not yet have is growth.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Jio Platforms IPO closes 22.19x as institutions bid 70.55 times over

Jio Platforms IPO closes 22.19x as institutions bid 70.55 times over

Jio Platforms' ₹30,213 crore fresh issue closed on 23 October with bids for 438 crore shares against 19.75 crore on offer. The demand came overwhelmingly from institutions; retail investors were far more measured.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

UAE and Singapore move to CEPA talks on $6.5bn of trade, up 25%

UAE and Singapore move to CEPA talks on $6.5bn of trade, up 25%

The UAE and Singapore have agreed to negotiate a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, add an energy taskforce with ADNOC and welcome Temasek to Abu Dhabi. The Gulf-Asia corridor is moving from goodwill to legal text.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

India's 10-year yield hits 7.46% as reserves fall $64.7bn from peak

India's 10-year yield hits 7.46% as reserves fall $64.7bn from peak

India's foreign exchange reserves have fallen for six straight weeks, and the bill for defending the rupee is now showing up in the bond market. The government, states and companies all face higher borrowing costs going into the second half of the financial year.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Tata Motors posts 42% volume jump as its €3.9bn Iveco bid nears close

India's largest truck maker sold 135,114 commercial vehicles in the September quarter and swung back to profit. Within a week it expects to own Iveco, and with it a European brand that it must now learn to run.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

HPCL earns ₹3,625 crore as $116 crude tests India's oil bill

HPCL earns ₹3,625 crore as $116 crude tests India's oil bill

Hindustan Petroleum is back in profit after a ₹12,265 crore loss in the June quarter, but its numbers show exactly where the Gulf crisis lands in India: fat refining margins, capped pump prices and a growing LPG bill that someone will have to pay.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

AI chips lift Japan's exports 16.7% as oil nearly doubles its deficit

AI chips lift Japan's exports 16.7% as oil nearly doubles its deficit

Japan sold far more chips and chipmaking machines to Asia and the United States in September. It also paid far more for oil, and Middle East flows slowed. Both shifts reach well beyond Tokyo.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Swiggy's ₹895 crore Instamart loss: the price of catching Blinkit

Swiggy's ₹895 crore Instamart loss: the price of catching Blinkit

Swiggy's food business posted its best margins yet in the September quarter, and its quick-commerce arm absorbed all of it and more. The results set out, in Swiggy's own numbers, how far Instamart still has to travel.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Bank of Korea holds at 3.00% and keeps more hikes on the table

Bank of Korea holds at 3.00% and keeps more hikes on the table

Korea's central bank paused after two increases since July, but said it will decide "the timing and pace of further increases". With India and Indonesia also leaning tighter, Asia's cheap-money window is closing as oil bites.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

India's core sector grows 7.9% in September despite the oil shock

India's core sector grows 7.9% in September despite the oil shock

India's nine core industries grew 7.9% in September 2026, up from 5.9% in August, as power, coal, iron ore and cement ran hot. The data says heavy industry is still building, even with wholesale inflation above 11% and the RBI tightening.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Rubio in Mumbai: India-US trade deal is "very, very close"

Rubio in Mumbai: India-US trade deal is "very, very close"

Marco Rubio's India itinerary named Mumbai and Jamnagar, not New Delhi. He met India's foreign minister with the UAE at the table and said a trade deal is near. Exporters now need to know what tariff they will face, and when.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

India-New Zealand FTA is live: 100% duty-free access, dairy kept out

India-New Zealand FTA is live: 100% duty-free access, dairy kept out

India's trade agreement with New Zealand took effect on 20 October 2026, giving every Indian export duty-free entry and opening a talent corridor for students and skilled workers. India paid for it without opening its dairy market, and that bargain now sets the template for its talks with the Gulf and the United States.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

DIP Holding IPO: the UAE's first 2026 listing bets on AED 700m dividends

DIP Holding IPO: the UAE's first 2026 listing bets on AED 700m dividends

Dubai Investments is selling a fifth of the company that owns Dubai Investments Park, in what it calls the UAE's first IPO of 2026. The pitch is income, not growth, and it arrives while the Gulf economy is still shrinking from the regional war.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

FII10 slips to 2027: what Riyadh's delay means for CEOs and boards

FII10 slips to 2027: what Riyadh's delay means for CEOs and boards

Saudi Arabia's flagship investor summit will not meet next week. After a run of deadly strikes on Riyadh's main airport, the "Davos in the Desert" has moved to 2027, and the question for leaders is no longer whether to fly in, but how to keep deals moving without the room.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

$133bn: what India's rupee defence is costing its biggest banks

$133bn: what India's rupee defence is costing its biggest banks

The Reserve Bank's dollar swap window pulled in $132.98bn of non-resident foreign currency deposits in under three months. The money flattered bank balance sheets in the September quarter, and the bill is now showing up in margins.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Jio Platforms IPO: Gulf funds hold 5.32% and are not selling

Jio Platforms IPO: Gulf funds hold 5.32% and are not selling

Jio Platforms took anchor bids on Monday, a day before a market holiday and two days before its ₹30,213 crore public issue opens. Three Gulf sovereign funds are already on its register. Here is what the anchor book can and cannot tell boards planning their own listings.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Saudi Arabia's 50% accountant quota starts 27 October: a CFO checklist

Saudi Arabia's 50% accountant quota starts 27 October: a CFO checklist

From next Tuesday, half of the accounting workforce at larger private employers in the Kingdom must be qualifying Saudi nationals. For Indian, Gulf and Asian firms, the test is not headcount alone but wages, accreditation and payroll data.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Bajaj Finance lines up ₹17,500 crore as AI agents take on service

Bajaj Finance lines up ₹17,500 crore as AI agents take on service

Bajaj Finance grew quarterly profit 29% and is lining up ₹17,500 crore of fresh equity just as the RBI starts tightening. Its bigger signal to boards is operational: AI bots now serve three in four of its self-service customers.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Hindustan Zinc's $671m quarter: silver, a weak rupee and rare earths

Hindustan Zinc's $671m quarter: silver, a weak rupee and rare earths

Hindustan Zinc has reported the most profitable quarter in its history in Amarendu Prakash's first full quarter as chief executive. The harder question for the Vedanta subsidiary is what it does with the cash, and whether a new rare earth block in Karnataka can become a second business.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Junior hires fall to 9% at Anthropic: a warning for India's IT pyramid

Junior hires fall to 9% at Anthropic: a warning for India's IT pyramid

An AI developer has published hard numbers on what its own tools did to its workforce. Fewer juniors, far more machine hours and more meetings. The data come from one unusual company, but India's entry-level hiring model is built on the very layer that shrank.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

China's 40-technology export list puts India's solar push on notice

China's 40-technology export list puts India's solar push on notice

Beijing wants to control how its most advanced AI and solar manufacturing know-how leaves the country. A registration rule is already in force, and the comment window closes on 15 November.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

UltraTech's Ultravolt: why a cement giant is selling wires to homeowners

UltraTech Cement grew profit by a fifth in a monsoon quarter, but the more telling line in its 19 October results was a new consumer brand. With Ultravolt, India's largest cement maker is asking homeowners and electricians to trust it with the wiring inside their walls, in a market Polycab and Havells have spent decades building.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

China's 4.5% growth runs on exports, and Asia's boards will feel it

China's 4.5% growth runs on exports, and Asia's boards will feel it

China's economy picked up speed in the third quarter, but almost all of the lift came from goods leaving the country. At home, investment is shrinking and shoppers are barely spending, which means more Chinese output is heading for markets in India, the Gulf and the rest of Asia.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Anchor investors in Indian IPOs: why the 60% book sets the tone

Anchor investors in Indian IPOs: why the 60% book sets the tone

Before an Indian IPO opens, a few large institutions commit first and in public. What SEBI's rules allow, what the market reads into them, and where boards go wrong.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

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