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Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allowed India’s subsidy bill to balloon in the lead up to crucial elections, at the risk of breaching his budget deficit goals. Although Modi has a reputation for reducing India’s huge subsidy expenditure, data shows he’s missed the chance to rein it in. And as he prepares for state and national elections, subsidy reforms ...

Bloomberg Hillhouse Capital Management, the Chinese investment firm that last year helped lead Asia’s biggest-ever buyout deal, is targeting to raise about $6 billion in a new private equity fund, people with knowledge of the matter said. Hillhouse has started gauging interest from potential investors, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s economic growth is set to moderate this year from a three-year high in 2017, but still post a solid performance on the back of strong domestic demand. Gross domestic product rose 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the central bank said on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, slightly above the median estimate of 5.8 percent ...

Bloomberg Toshiba Corp. is bringing in an outsider to lead the Japanese electronics maker battered by accounting scandals, record losses and divestment of businesses. Nobuaki Kurumatani, 60, representative director of CVC Capital Partners Ltd. in Japan and former vice president at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., will become chief executive officer and chairman of Toshiba Corp., the Tokyo-based manufacturer said in ...

Bloomberg The surprise jailing of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin on bribery charges has thrown one of South Korea’s biggest chaebols into further disarray. Now up in the air: a planned initial public offering for Lotte’s hotel unit; its hope of selling its network of stores in China; a restructuring plan for the group; and the family feud between Shin ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s economy lost some of its momentum in the fourth quarter and the government sees growth moderating slightly this year as an export boom in 2017 eases. Gross domestic product rose at a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 2.1 percent from prior three months, trade ministry said on Wednesday; Bloomberg survey median was 2 percent, while government’s previous projection ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration is signaling progress on Nafta talks, particularly with Mexico, as Republican lawmakers voice support for a trade deal President Donald Trump has threatened repeatedly to abandon. The US is making “headway” in its efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade agreement, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said at a meeting with the president and a bipartisan ...

Bloomberg Germany’s robust economic upswing extended into the fourth quarter, buttressing growth in the euro area as policy makers prepare to wind down stimulus. Gross domestic product in Europe’s largest economy increased 0.6 percent from the third quarter, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said on Wednesday. That’s in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The economy ...

Bloomberg Businesses in the Czech Republic are fretting over a debate about a new referendum law, warning it has the potential to trigger a vote on a Brexit-style departure from the European Union that would devastate the economy. The pushback from business came after Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO party held talks last week on introducing referendums with a far-right ...

Bloomberg The euro-area economy maintained its robust growth pace at the end of last year, setting the stage for another solid performance in 2018 that may sway European Central Bank policy makers into winding down unprecedented stimulus. Gross domestic product increased 0.6 percent from the previous three months, Eurostat reported on Wednesday, confirming a Jan. 30 estimate. Growth slowed in ...