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Analysis drawn from filings, central bank releases and company statements, with the working shown so a reader can disagree with the conclusion and still use the numbers.

Where a figure comes from a company's own statement it is attributed to the company, and where it comes from the research it is attributed to the Business Intelligence Unit.

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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

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

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

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

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

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

Jio's IPO, China's GDP: the leaders' week ahead, 19 to 25 October

Jio's IPO, China's GDP: the leaders' week ahead, 19 to 25 October

Jio Platforms opens its public offer on Wednesday, a day after Indian markets shut for Dussehra. Around it sit China's third-quarter growth figures, a Bank Indonesia decision with the rupiah under pressure, and results from Tesla and Infosys. Here is the week, day by day, and why each date matters to boards in India, the Gulf and Asia.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

India's $476bn half-year: electronics and the US outrun the Gulf shock

India's $476bn half-year: electronics and the US outrun the Gulf shock

India's total exports grew 10.99% in September, despite a renewed conflict in West Asia that pushed up crude prices. Electronics and the American market did the heavy lifting, while a services surplus of $102.71bn covered more than half of a widening goods deficit.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

TSMC and ASML post records, and ASML says supply falls short to 2028

TSMC and ASML post records, and ASML says supply falls short to 2028

The two companies at the narrowest point of the AI supply chain have just reported their best quarters. The more important message is ASML's: the machines that make advanced chips will stay scarce for at least two more years.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

India's 11.39% wholesale inflation: the margin squeeze is here

India's 11.39% wholesale inflation: the margin squeeze is here

Factory-gate prices in India are rising more than twice as fast as shop prices. With fuel and power up 25.85% a year and the RBI now tightening, the cost of a crude oil shock has landed on corporate margins.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Your customers will send their agents: what the Personal Agent Protocol means for the board

Your customers will send their agents: what the Personal Agent Protocol means for the board

Meta and Sierra want a common standard for personal AI agents that deal with companies on a customer's behalf. If it takes hold, the first visitor to your website, app or call centre may not be a person at all.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Deutsche Telekom puts euro figures on AI

Deutsche Telekom puts euro figures on AI

At an AI investor day in Bonn, Deutsche Telekom tied its AI programme to savings, revenue and service numbers. The figures are targets, not results, but the discipline behind them is worth studying.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Industrial firms are buying the AI software stack: Schneider Electric and PTC

Industrial firms are buying the AI software stack: Schneider Electric and PTC

Schneider Electric's all-cash agreement to buy PTC is a hardware-rooted group paying for design and lifecycle software. It is a bet that industrial AI will be won by whoever connects engineering data with operations data.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

AI Act enforcement has quietly begun: a readiness checklist for non-EU firms

AI Act enforcement has quietly begun: a readiness checklist for non-EU firms

Brussels has started using its powers over the makers of the most capable AI models, and its tech chief says the rules can cope with rogue agents. Companies outside Europe that deploy AI there should prepare now.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

One attacker, a whole banking sector: AI-assisted hacking in South Korea

One attacker, a whole banking sector: AI-assisted hacking in South Korea

A single, as yet unidentified actor using AI penetration-testing tools and coding models appears to have reached several South Korean financial institutions in a matter of weeks. Boards should revisit what one attacker can do.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Supplier-funded compute: what CFOs should read into the AI financing loop

Supplier-funded compute: what CFOs should read into the AI financing loop

Chipmakers are now financing the customers who buy their chips, while memory makers report record profits. The AI boom is real, but its money increasingly moves in a circle, and finance chiefs should know where they sit in it.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

The AI trade economy: chips and servers now carry almost half of world trade growth

The AI trade economy: chips and servers now carry almost half of world trade growth

The World Trade Organization has doubled its 2026 goods-trade forecast, and the reason is artificial intelligence. Semiconductors, servers and other AI-enabling goods made up 47% of merchandise trade growth in the first half of the year.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

The AI adoption gap: what the World Bank's new numbers say about emerging markets

The AI adoption gap: what the World Bank's new numbers say about emerging markets

Emerging Asia makes much of the world's AI hardware. Its firms and workers use far less of the technology than their counterparts in advanced economies, and new World Bank data show how wide that gap is.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

The $6 trillion question: is AI spending outrunning AI revenue?

The $6 trillion question: is AI spending outrunning AI revenue?

Bain & Company says AI must generate about $6 trillion a year by 2031 to pay for the computing it needs. Set against this year's capital spending and the revenue of the leading labs, the figure shows how much of the AI investment case still rests on markets that do not yet exist.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

AI-native vs AI-retrofit: the growth gap incumbents should study

AI-native vs AI-retrofit: the growth gap incumbents should study

Companies built around AI are growing roughly three times faster than software firms adding AI to existing products, according to data in the State of AI Report 2026. The finding is striking. It is also easy to misread.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Factories expanding, households retreating: the US confidence split

Factories expanding, households retreating: the US confidence split

American manufacturers reported a ninth straight month of expansion in September. In the same month, consumer confidence fell sharply. Leaders planning for 2027 need to decide which signal to trust.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

Boards are deploying AI faster than they can secure it

Boards are deploying AI faster than they can secure it

Two surveys published in early October point to the same governance gap. AI agents are already in production across most large organisations, while the controls built to manage them lag far behind.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial Desk

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