31/12/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | DEC 31, 2025

18

companies made their Hong Kong debuts yesterday after raising about HK$6.99 billion (RM3.6 billion), with most rallying above their IPO prices to round off a resurgent year for listings as the city dominated Asian equity capital markets. The strong starts signal renewed investor confidence and optimism around tech-driven growth, underpinned by regulatory changes and robust liquidity. Market participants said the momentum could set the tone for 2026 as Hong Kong reasserts itself as a key listing venue. About US$75 billion (RM304 NEW DELHI: When India overtook China as the world’s largest producer of rice this year, the country’s politicians and agriculture lobby marked the moment by praising resilient farmers and innovative government policy. India has nearly doubled the amount of rice it exported over the past decade, with shipments crossing 20 million metric tonnes in the latest fiscal year. But many rice farmers in the country’s agricultural heartlands are in a less celebratory mood. Interviews with growers, government officials and farm scientists, as well as a review of groundwater data, reveal widespread concern that thirsty rice crops are unsustainably draining India’s already-low aquifers, forcing farmers to borrow heavily to drill ever-deeper borewells. In the rice-basket states of Haryana and Punjab, groundwater was reachable at around 30ft a decade ago, according to 50 farmers and eight water and agriculture officials. But drainage has accelerated in the past five years and borewells must now go between 80ft and 200ft, according to the farmers, whose accounts were corroborated with government data and research by Punjab Agricultural University. “Every year, the borewell has to go deeper,” said Balkar Singh, a 50-year old farmer in Haryana. “It’s getting too expensive.” At the same time, government subsidies that incentivise rice cultivation discourage farmers from switching to less water-intensive crops, said Uday Chandra, a South Asia politics expert at Georgetown University in Qatar. The subsidies – some of them a legacy from past decades when India struggled to feed its growing population – include a state-guaranteed minimum price for rice that has climbed by around 70% over the past decade, as well as heavy power subsidies that encourage extracting water for farm use. The net effect, said Avinash Kishore at the International Food Policy Research Institute think-tank in Washington, is that one of the world’s most water-stressed countries is paying farmers to consume vast amounts of precious groundwater. The Indian Ministries of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and of Water Resources did not respond when presented with Reuters’ findings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously attempted to reform agricultural laws, including measures that would incentivise more private sector crop purchases. But that raised fears that the government might

India’s rice dominance stokes water crisis

Citi to sell Russia unit, warns of US$1.2b loss NEW YORK: Citigroup board approved the sale of its Russian unit, AO Citibank, to Renaissance Capital, in a deal that will lead to a pre-tax loss of about US$1.2 billion (RM4.9 billion) that is largely related to currency translation. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, according to an SEC filing. “The approvals result in a pre-tax loss on the sale for the fourth quarter of 2025, largely related to the currency translation adjustment (CTA) losses that will also remain in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (AOCI) until closing,“ the bank said in a separate statement. CTA is an accounting method that captures gains or losses from converting a foreign subsidiary’s financial statements from its local currency to the parent company’s reporting currency. AOCI is a component of equity on a company’s balance sheet that captures certain unrealised gains and losses not recognised in net income. The cumulative impact of the moves would be capital neutral to Citi’s common equity tier 1 capital, it said. The loss related to the sale is subject to further changes, including as a result of foreign exchange movements, Citi said. Citi will classify its remaining business in Russia as “held for sale” as of the fourth quarter of 2025. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave permission for Renaissance Capital to buy the Russian operations of Citibank. In August 2022, Citi announced that, as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce its operations and exposure in Russia, it was winding down its consumer banking and local commercial banking operations. – Reuters on Monday said its Chipmaker Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor is offering 25.4 million shares at HK$144.60 for proceeds of HK$3.67 billion, while surgical robotics maker Shenzhen Edge Medical plans to sell 27.72 million shares at HK$43.24 each to raise about HK$1.2 billion. All three are scheduled to debut on Jan 8. The six debuts and three new launches highlight Hong Kong’s resurgence as an IPO hub. With more than 300 companies filing to list, the momentum is set to carry into 2026. In addition to Biren Technology’s debut early next year, AI player MiniMax Group remains in the pipeline. – Reuters

cool winds or that people don’t want to get in. If anything, investors are just being a bit more careful, more rational about it,“ Au said. The next one to watch out for will be Shanghai Biren Technology, which will debut on Jan 2 and whose performance might set the tone for 2026, he added. Three Chinese firms launched Hong Kong share sales yesterday, adding more than HK$9 billion to the city’s IPO pipeline. Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Co, or Zhipu AI, is marketing 37.42 million H-shares at HK$116.20 apiece to raise HK$4.35 billion. equipment and labour that allowed him to continue growing rice despite the falling water table. “If costs keep rising each season, it looks like they will soon become unsustainable,” he said. Producing a single kilogramme of rice consumes 3,000–4,000 litres of water, according to farm economist Ashok Gulati, who previously advised the government on crop prices. That is between 20% to 60% more than the global average, according to farm policy experts. Singh, the Punjab grower, said that farmers with larger plots like himself are still able to make a profit because they understand how to navigate government subsidies and can afford to drill deeper borewells. That isn’t the case for subsistence growers, he said: “The falling water table is a major concern for all rice growers, but small farmers are hit hardest as every extra cost of cultivation dents their meagre income.” There are some signs that Indian officials are hoping to break the vicious cycle between rice subsidies and groundwater extraction. The Haryana government last year began offering a subsidy of 17,500 rupees per ha to encourage farmers to switch to crops such as millets, which require significantly less water. Millets, which are sometimes used as a substitute for rice, are gaining popularity in parts of urban India due to their perceived health benefits. The incentive offered by the Haryana government to promote crops such as millets, however, is available only for one growing season and has so far failed to drive large scale adoption. The one-off incentive is too short, according to Gulati, who thinks at least five years are needed to encourage farmers to make a long term switch from rice to millets. The Haryana Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare did not respond to questions about the programme. Gulati said his research indicates that the state could incentivise farmers to switch to less water intensive crops without increasing spending on subsidies. – Reuters

o Growers warn that falling aquifer levels and rising costs are making cultivation unsustainable

aquifers aren’t fully recharged when monsoon rains are weak. Even though monsoon rains have been strong for the last two years, farmers have been extracting so much water that aquifers in large parts of Haryana and Punjab are classified by the Indian government as either “over-exploited” or at “critical” levels. The two states extract between 35% and 57% more groundwater annually than their aquifers naturally replenish, according to government data for 2024 and 2025. In an attempt to salvage the situation, local authorities in 2023 imposed bans on new borewells in critically exploited zones. Growers constrained to existing borewells are in turn spending tens of thousands of rupees annually on equipment such as longer pipes and more powerful pumps that can extract from the dwindling supply, the farmers said. Among them is Sukhwinder Singh, who farms a 35-acre plot in Punjab. The 76-year-old, who is not related to Balkar Singh, said he spent between 30,000 rupees (RM1,354) and 40,000 rupees last summer on

reduce the quantity of grain it purchases at guaranteed prices, prompting protests by millions of farmers that paralysed the nation five years ago and forced Modi into a rare retreat. India accounts for 40% of the world’s rice exports, so any changes in production will have global implications, Kishore said. In addition, India grows far more rice than it needs to feed its domestic population, which overtook China’s in 2023 to become the world’s largest, at more than 1.4 billion people. “The sheer volume of rice India produces and exports gives it a pivotal role in global trade,” Kishore said. “But it also raises a question: should the country be growing and selling so much rice?” While farmers in much of India rely on a mix of surface and groundwater irrigation, growers in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, which are the nation’s leading rice producers, typically depend on groundwater. That dependence makes rice farmers in both states particularly vulnerable to climate change, since

Small growers are struggling as falling water tables make each planting season more expensive and risky. – UNSPLASH PIX

China IPOs surge in Hong Kong debuts HONG KONG: Six Chinese

helped boost sentiment. InSilico Medicine Cayman TopCo, a generative-AI drug discovery firm, opened about 45% higher. Beijing 51WORLD Digital Twin Technology, a software company started nearly 15% higher, and USAS Building System, an industrial steel structure maker, climbed more than 15% at the opening, while Shanghai Forest Cabin Cosmetics Group, a premium skincare brand rose about 9%. Shenzhen Xunce Technology and OneRobotics opened flat. “The market atmosphere is still pretty decent heading into year-end. I don’t think we’re seeing any real

billion) was raised through equity offerings in Hong Kong in 2025, including IPOs and follow-on share sales, more than triple the 2024 tally and the highest since 2021, according to LSEG data. All but one of the debutants started trading above their IPO prices and largely held those gains through the session with no drastic swings. “This year’s actually been the best we’ve had since Ant’s IPO got pulled,“ said George Au, deputy sales director at Phillip Securities, adding that a margin loan boom, successful debutants like Mixue and CATL, and the allocation rule changes in August that limited retail frenzy, have all