Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered tax cuts and boosted spending on some of India’s poorest citizens hurt by his cash ban as he seeks to shore up support before pivotal state elections. The budget shortfall is forecast to be 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in the year starting April 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told lawmakers in …

  Bloomberg Japan’s biggest electricity wholesaler knows it’ll take more than cutting-edge coal technology to save the environment. Electric Power Development Co., known as J-Power, is looking to build its first major power plant that burns natural gas near cities such as Tokyo as well as use more woody biomass instead of fossil fuels, Executive Officer Hitoshi Kanno said. That’s …

  Bloomberg China’s official factory gauge started the new year on a robust note, giving policy makers a buffer to transition to neutral policy settings as they prepare for potential trade tensions with a Donald Trump-led White House. Manufacturing purchasing managers index was 51.3 in January, compared with a median estimate of 51.2 in a Bloomberg survey of economists and …