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The rupee slipped 10 paise to 77.78 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, as elevated crude oil prices and persistent foreign capital outflows weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 77.74 against the American dollar, then lost ground to quote at 77.78, registering a fall of 10 paise from the last close.

On Wednesday, the rupee recovered from its record low to close 10 paise higher at 77.68 against the American currency. Rupee is hovering around its lifetime low of 77.78 against the US dollar tracking the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and firm crude oil prices.

Rupee opened on a bearish note as crude oil neared USD 125 per barrel, Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors, said. "Only RBI is supporting the rupee while the flows have totally dried out. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) continue the sell-mode for equities and buy-mode for US dollar," Bhansali said.

Moreover, Asian currencies are trading on a weak note, Bhansali said, adding that there is "no effect of a rate hike by RBI on Wednesday on the rupee as buyers of the dollar are in abundance." Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.26 per cent to USD 123.90 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent lower at 102.52. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 163.34 points or 0.30 per cent lower at 54,729.15, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 41.00 points or 0.25 per cent to 16,315.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,484.25 crore, as per stock exchange data.

India and Vietnam on Wednesday inked a vision document to further broad-base the scope and scale of bilateral defence cooperation after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held ”fruitful” talks with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang. The defence minister arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday on a three-day visit.

”Had an excellent meeting with General Phan Van Giang, the Defence Minister of Vietnam. We renewed interactions on expanding bilateral cooperation. Our close Defence and Security cooperation is an important factor of stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Singh tweeted.

The joint vision document provides for significant expansion of defence tiesec in diverse areas by 2030, officials said. ”We had wide-ranging discussions on effective and practical initiatives to further expand bilateral Defence engagements and regional and global issues,” Singh said. ”After our fruitful deliberations, we signed the Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030, which will significantly enhance the scope and scale of our defence cooperation,” he added.

The signing of the vision document to expand bilateral defence and security ties came amid growing congruence between the two countries in the maritime security domain amid China’s increasing muscle-flexing in the region.

Singh is also scheduled to call on Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Singh is also scheduled to call on Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Vietnam, an important country of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), has territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea region.

Billionaire Gautam Adani and India's biggest hospital operators, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd are assessing bids to take a majority stake in Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, a media report said.

Adani and Apollo's deal with Metropolis could be at least worth $1 billion or Rs 7,765 crore, given the market captalisation of the diagnostic chain and its operations, Mint reported quoting two people familiar with the matter.

This comes after the Adani Group, one of India’s largest business conglomerate, last month announced its foray into the healthcare sector and reports suggested that it is planning to acquire large hospitals and diagnostic assets. Adani Enterprises in May said it has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, Adani Health Ventures (AHVL), for this purpose.

To gain a foothold in the sector, Adani Group has reportedly earnmarked $4 billion for the business.

The Adani Group, which has more than $20 billion in annual revenue, is also interested in entering the pharmacy space, through both

India's surprise ban on wheat exports has prompted rice traders to increase purchases and place unusual orders for longer-dated deliveries, fearing the world's top rice exporter may restrict those shipments as well, four exporters told Reuters.

In the last two weeks, traders have signed contracts to export 1 million tonnes of rice for shipments from June through September and are opening letters of credit (LCs) quickly after signing deals to ensure the contracted quantity will be sent even if India restricts exports, the people said.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the country's growth will be driven by fiscal spending. Participating virtually in the second BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the China chairmanship, Sitharaman said BRICS should continue to serve as a platform to engage in dialogues and facilitate exchange of experiences, concerns and ideas for rebuilding a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.

Speaking on India's growth outlook, she said the economic growth will continue to be supported by fiscal spending along with an investment push, imparting momentum to the economy based on the idea of growth at macro level complemented by all-inclusive welfare at micro level.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the country's growth will be driven by fiscal spending. Participating virtually in the second BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the China chairmanship, Sitharaman said BRICS should continue to serve as a platform to engage in dialogues and facilitate exchange of experiences, concerns and ideas for rebuilding a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.

Speaking on India's growth outlook, she said the economic growth will continue to be supported by fiscal spending along with an investment push, imparting momentum to the economy based on the idea of growth at macro level complemented by all-inclusive welfare at micro level.

The government has proposed to significantly step up the public investment by raising capital expenditure by 35.4 per cent to Rs 7.5 lakh crore or 2.9 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year.

The BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors also discussed other legacy BRICS finance issues such as infrastructure investment, New Development Bank (NDB), BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) etc.

Fuel prices have remained unchanged ever since the government on May 21 announced an excise duty cut on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre.

The cut translated into a reduction of Rs 9.5 a litre for petrol in Delhi and Rs 7 a litre for diesel. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 96.72 a litre as against Rs 105.41 a litre before, while diesel costs Rs 89.62 a litre as opposed to Rs 96.67 earlier.

In Mumbai, one litre of petrol costs Rs 111.35 and diesel Rs 97.28. In Chennai, petrol and diesel prices are Rs 102.63 and Rs 94.24 per litre, respectively. In Kolkata, petrol is Rs 106.03, and diesel is Rs 92.76 per litre.

Oil marketing companies are passing on the excise duty cut to consumers despite losing Rs 13.08 a litre on petrol and Rs 24.09 per litre on diesel. India meets 80 percent of its oil needs through imports.

Meanwhile, global oil prices rose more than $2 in early trade on Monday after Saudi Arabia raised prices sharply for its crude sales in July, an indicator of how tight supply is even after OPEC+ agreed to accelerate its output increases over the next two months.

Brent crude futures were up $1.80, or 1.5%, at $121.52 a barrel at 2319 GMT after touching an intraday high of $121.95, extending a 1.8% gain from Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $1.63, or 1.4%, at $120.50 a barrel after hitting a three-month high of $120.99. The contract gained 1.7% on Friday.

Saudi Arabia raised the official selling price (OSP) for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia to a $6.50 premium versus the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmarks, up from a premium of $4.40 in June, state oil produce Aramco said on Sunday.

Fuel prices remain unchanged ever since the government on May 21 announced an excise duty cut on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre.

The cut translated into a reduction of Rs 9.5 a litre for petrol in Delhi and Rs 7 a litre for diesel. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 96.72 a litre as against Rs 105.41 a litre before, while diesel costs Rs 89.62 a litre as opposed to Rs 96.67 earlier.

In Mumbai, one litre of petrol costs Rs 111.35 and diesel Rs 97.28. In Chennai, petrol and diesel prices are Rs 102.63 and Rs 94.24 per litre, respectively. In Kolkata, petrol is Rs 106.03, and diesel is Rs 92.76 per litre.

Oil marketing companies are passing on the excise duty cut to consumers despite losing Rs 13.08 a litre on petrol and Rs 24.09 per litre on diesel. India meets 80 percent of its oil needs through imports.

Due to low fuel prices for almost two months despite rising costs, oil companies are now detailing under-recoveries, which can reach Rs 17.1 per litre on petrol and Rs 20.4 on diesel. Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on June 2 that fuel retailers have knocked on the government's doors asking for 'relief' but hastened to add that it is up to them to set prices.

UAE, one of the world's largest oil producers, has raised domestic fuel prices for the month of June amid a global surge in crude. A rate card issued by the Emirati government shows that the price of petrol has soared by more than 13 percent. One of the most widely used categories of fuel, Super 98 petrol, will now be sold at Dh4.15 per litre, 13.4 percent higher than last month's price. Prices for Special 95 petrol have been raised from Dh3.55 to Dh4.03 a litre, a 13.5 percent increase. Similarly, E Plus 91, another highly used category of gasoline on the country's domestic market, will now cost Dh3.96 a litre, up 13.8 percent compared to Dh3.48 in May. Diesel price is up 1.5 percent. A litre of the fuel will cost Dh4.14 against Dh4.08 in May, Reuters reported.

A coalition of consumers on Friday filed a police case against Google's top executives, including CEO Sundar Pichai, for the tech giant's in-app billing system that forces domestic app developers to pay hefty commissions.

According to The Korea Times, Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty (CUCS) has filed a complaint against Pichai, Google Korea CEO Nancy Mable Walker and Google Asia-Pacific President Scott Beaumont at Gangnam Police Station in Seoul for allegedly violating the country's Telecommunications Business Act.

"The enforcement of Google's in-app payment policy has raised costs, burdening consumers and damaging creators," a representative from the consumer group was quoted as saying.

"App developers have no choice but to accept the request from Google, which accounts for 74.6 per cent of the app store market share," the representative added.

South Korean companies have raised charges for paid content services on Google as the US tech giant prepares to remove apps with external payment links circumventing Google's in-app payment system.

Google started enforcing the controversial billing system in Korea from June 1.

Currently, many app developers on Google's Play store directed users to external links for payment to circumvent Google's billing policy, which takes a hefty 15-30 percent commission from in-app purchases, reports Yonhap News Agency.

In March, South Korea's Cabinet approved a revised bill that would ban app store operators from forcing developers to use their own in-app payment systems.

Still, Google required in April all app developers selling digital goods and services to use its billing system and to remove external payment links. Non-complying apps were not able to offer updates, and Google warned to remove such apps from the Play store on June 1.

Since Google's announcement, in-app charges for a wide array of content services, including webtoons and digital books, have seen 15-20 per cent hikes on the Play store in the past two months.

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Cotton planting in India, the world's biggest producer of the fibre, could jump as much as 15% in 2022 to an all-time high, as strong prices prompt farmers to switch away from other crops, an industry association said.

Higher output could help cool the rally in global and local cotton prices, which is hurting Asian apparel makers.

Area planted to cotton in India could rise as much as 15% from last year because the crop is providing far better returns than alternatives, said Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India.

Local prices have more than doubled over the past year, because heavy rainfall during harvesting slashed 2021's crop to the lowest level in a decade.

A 15% rise in India's cotton crop area would lift it to around 13.8 million hectares in 2022 from 12 million hectares last year.

The association expects the largest expansions in cotton area to be in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, which together account for nearly half of the country's production.

"Last year I grew cotton on 21 acres land, and groundnut on my remaining 10 acres. Since cotton prices are high, I will plant only cotton this year on all my land," said Jagdish Magan, a farmer from Morbi, Gujarat.

Most Indian farmers begin planting cotton at the onset of monsoon rains in June, although some with irrigated fields start as early as May.

(Graphic: India cotton area, production and exports- https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/dwvkrnnxgpm/IndiaCottonStats.png)

Oilseeds and pulses compete with the fibre in key cotton-producing states, such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana and Rajasthan.

Pulses have given farmers relatively poor returns over the past few years, and this could encourage growers to shift towards cotton, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Ideally, with higher area, production should go up. But cotton is a rain-fed crop in many regions, so monsoon rainfall distribution will determine the crop size," he said.

The dealer also expected a rise of up to 15% in area planted to cotton.

India is likely to receive average monsoon rainfall in 2022, while cotton-producing western states could get above-average rains, the weather department said this week.