25/07/2025

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | JULY 25, 2025

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India anti-crime agency said to be probing Reliance

Indonesia brushes off concern on data transfer JAKARTA: Indonesia yesterday denied warnings that the transfer of personal data agreed in a trade deal with the United States this week would put people’s rights at risk. After weeks of negotiations, the White House said that it had reached an agreement with Jakarta that lowered tariffs on America-bound goods from the archipelago nation, from 32% to 19%. US President Donald Trump said the reduction was in return for significant purchase commitments from Jakarta, including the purchase of 50 Boeing jets. The White House said on Tuesday that Indonesia had also committed to removing barriers that impact digital trade and will provide certainty regarding the transfer of personal data to the US. Jakarta said negotiations on the details continued to be held. But experts warned the personal data transfer to a foreign country would be a further drain on Indonesia’s already-weak data protection apparatus. “If there’s a leak or improper use of the data, solving the problem would be a lot more complicated if the data is in another country,” Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, executive director of the Centre of Economic and Law Studies. He said some American companies had been complaining about the Indonesian digital payment system, Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard, or QRIS, which they believed did not benefit their companies. With the tariff deal, the companies can access citizens’ data, Bhima said. “I don’t know if the government is aware of how serious this is. We open all access to our data just for a lower tariff.” However, Jakarta reassured that the system was safe. “The government assures that the data transfer to the US will not be carried out carelessly,” said Digital Communication Minister Meutia Hafidz in a statement yesterday. “On the contrary, the whole process will be conducted within a secure and reliable data governance framework. “The data transfer between countries would still be carried out under the tight supervision of the Indonesian authorities, with high caution, based on the national law.” – AFP SK hynix posts record profits on surging AI demand SEOUL: South Korean chip giant SK hynix reported record quarterly profits yesterday thanks to soaring demand for artificial intelligence. The world’s second-largest memory chip maker dominates the market for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors and is a key supplier for US titan Nvidia. The firm said operating profit climbed almost 70% to 9.21 trillion won (RM28.3 billion) in the second quarter, with revenues coming in at 22.23 trillion won – both all-time peaks. The news comes after Taiwan chip giant TSMC last week announced a surge in net profit for the second quarter, topping forecasts, thanks to robust demand for AI technology, despite the threat of US tariffs on the critical sector. HK hynix also said net profit was up close to 70% on-year, at 6.99 trillion won. “An aggressive investment by global big tech companies into AI led to a steady increase in demand for AI memory,” it said in a statement. Shipments of DRAM and NAND flash topped forecasts, boosting the bottom line. “SK hynix foresees that increasing competition among big tech companies to enhance inference of AI models would lead to higher demand for high-performance and high-capacity memory products,” the company added. – AFP

credit memos, “evergreening” loans – issuing fresh loans to avoid labelling assets as nonperforming – and misrepresenting financials. YES Bank’s former promoter, Rana Kapoor, was charged with bank fraud by the financial crime agency in 2020 and later arrested. He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in 2024 by a special court in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, according to local media reports. Anil Ambani’s group entities have been subject to several regulatory actions in recent years. In August 2024, the markets regulator SEBI barred Anil Ambani and 24 others from securities markets for five years, citing fund diversion from Reliance Home Finance. Shares of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power fell as much as 5% yesterday after the news of the latest probe circulated. – Reuters

Reliance Group entities are accused of paying bribes to YES Bank officials before loans were disbursed, the source said, adding that loan approvals violated the bank’s processes. Reliance and YES Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Several group firms of Anil Ambani, the younger brother of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, have gone into bankruptcy since 2017. YES Bank, from which Anil Ambani group firms had borrowed heavily, was declared insolvent in 2020 and rescued by a group of Indian lenders in a plan approved by the central bank. Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is seeking a 20% stake in a deal that has yet to get regulatory approval. The probe also found gross violations in YES Bank’s loan approval process, such as lending to companies with weak financials, backdating

o Directorate alleges Anil Ambani firms paid bribes, routed funds via shell companies

MUMBAI: India’s financial crime-fighting agency searched 35 locations linked to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and siphoning of public funds, a government source said yesterday. The Enforcement Directorate alleges the group orchestrated a “well-planned” scheme to siphon off bank loans from YES Bank worth 30 billion rupees (RM1.5 billion) between 2017 and 2019 to many shell companies, the source said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

A view of cranes at the Port of Manila. – AFPPIC

Tariff negotiations with US ‘not finished’: Philippines MANILA: Negotiations over the Philippines’ new 19% US tariff rate are “not finished”, a key government economic adviser said yesterday, tamping down fears over the deal’s potential impact on the agriculture sector. “The negotiations are not yet finished. Our technical working groups will continue to work with their counterparts from America to finalise the details of this arrangement,” he told reporters in Manila. consumers of dropping some tariffs, particularly on pharmaceuticals. “Medicines are expensive in the Philippines. If they are tariff-free, then that can lower the price of medicine in our country,” he said.

Jesus Felipe, an economics professor at Manila’s De La Salle University, told AFP the actual number of Philippine exports hit by the full tariff would likely be low. “That’s the number (19%) that has been flagged, but our feeling is that many products – a substantial share of Philippine exports to the US – will have to be exempted.” While predicting the effect on Philippine GDP would effectively be “nothing”, Felipe said the “imperialist attitude” with which the United States was treating smaller countries remained worrying. Countries with far larger US trade deficits like China, Mexico and Canada had “much more power and leverage” to fight back, he said. “The Philippines cannot retaliate.” – AFP

“There are still many things to be discussed.” Since the Trump meeting, the Marcos Jr administration has downplayed the potential effects of the tariffs, noting just 16% of the country’s exports go to the United States, with about two-thirds being electronic components not subject to levies. Go said that while tariffs would disappear for certain agricultural products like soy and wheat, key areas such as sugar, corn, rice, fish and pork would remain protected for Filipino farmers. “I can guarantee to you we studied our biggest industries in the country where we are a significant market producer. “We didn’t include those in our arrangements with the United States,” he said. Go also touted the benefit to Filipino

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr flew back to the country late on Wednesday after a three-day trip to Washington that saw him emerge from a meeting with Donald Trump having shaved a single point off a 20% levy on Filipino goods. What might “seem like a very small concession” was in fact a “significant achievement”, Marcos Jr told reporters who questioned if the Philippines – a longtime US treaty ally – was getting the short end of the stick. The US president, meanwhile, touted “zero tariffs” on American goods headed to the archipelago nation of 115 million. But Marcos Jr economic adviser Frederick Go said yesterday that tariffs would not be dropped in every category.