India plans to form a giant national oil company by combining other state-owned firms, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday, as New Delhi wants to expand its foreign presence to meet growing domestic fuel demand.

India stuck to a previously planned injection of $1.5 billion for state-owned banks in the coming financial year, disappointing hopes for a broader recapitalisation and fuelling concern that some may trim lending to keep afloat.

India's finance minister pledged to raise spending on the rural poor and halved the basic rate of income tax in his annual budget Wednesday, seeking to ease the pain of a shock move to ban high-value banknotes.

German car parts maker Bosch said Wednesday it will pay out some $327.5 million (303 million euros) in compensation to US buyers and dealers of Volkswagen-made diesel cars affected by the 'dieselgate' scandal.

South Africa's poultry industry says it is on the brink of collapse due to hotly-denied accusations that the European Union is dumping cheap chicken in the country in a dispute over free trade.

Apple Inc reclaimed the throne as the world's top smartphone seller for the first time in five years on Tuesday, beating out rival Samsung in units shipped for the holiday quarter and boosting revenues with a strong showing for its new, top-of-the-line iPhone 7 Plus.

Germany's center-left candidate for chancellor Martin Schulz has called for bigger pay rises for workers, an unusual move in a country where wages are traditionally negotiated by managers and union leaders without political interference.

The German industrial conglomerate Siemens said Tuesday that full-year earnings would surpass previous estimates, after reporting a 25 percent jump in quarterly net profit.

Japan is hammering out plans to show US President Donald Trump its firms are ready to create US jobs, according to a document whose contents were revealed to Reuters, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares for a summit where automotive trade will be high on the agenda.

Italian banks have made little progress in reducing the mountain of bad debts which has curbed their ability to lend new money, fresh data showed on Tuesday.

India's natural rubber output in 2017/18 is likely to jump 15 percent to its highest in four years at 750,000 tonnes as a spike in benchmark prices prompts farmers to start tapping trees they had abandoned earlier, industry officials told Reuters.

Seeking to capitalize on US President Donald Trump's controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations Tuesday following a pair of recent acquisitions.

Vodafone has dialed for backup in its India fight. The UK-based telco is talking to Aditya Birla Group about an all-share merger of its Indian business with Idea Cellular, part-owned by the cement-to-retail group. It could feel the benefits beyond the subcontinent.

Swedish ready-to-wear giant Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) said Tuesday annual net profit dropped by 11 percent due to higher purchasing costs from the rising dollar.

The government plans to construct a transmission line from Payra to Patuakhali to start supplying power to a 1,320MW coal-based power plant in Payra deep seaport area by 2018.

Japanese trust banks are preparing to sue Toshiba Corp over its 2015 accounting scandal, a fresh headache for the conglomerate as it scrambles to offset a separate imminent multi-billion dollar writedown.

The dollar dipped on Monday as investors sought the traditional security of the Japanese yen after new US immigration curbs put the spotlight back on President Donald Trump's protectionist bent and the risks it poses for the economy.

Most US corporate bosses have stayed silent on President Donald Trump's immigration curbs, underscoring the sensitivities around opposing policies that could provoke a backlash from the White House.

The number of US companies using a budgeting tool made famous in the 1970s by former US President Jimmy Carter is surging as they turn their spending habits upside down to boost profits and to re-invest in their businesses.