Five hours ago, One97 Communications, the parent company of the Indian digital payment company Paytm, saw a significant increase in its stock value. This is due to the company’s announcement that it had received a third-party application provider license from the National Payments Corporation of India. Previously, Indian bourses had implemented circuit limits on the stock after the Reserve Bank of India ordered Paytm Payments Banks to suspend new client onboarding.
This development places Paytm in a position to enable its users to transfer funds through India’s Unified Payment Interface, even after the prospective cessation of operations of Paytm Payments Bank by the 15th of March. India’s UPI is a real-time payment system that enables the transaction of funds across different banks.
One97 Communications, in its statement, mentioned that four prominent banks, namely Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and YES Bank, would operate as the payment system provider banks.
In another significant development, Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp are preparing to recall approximately 170,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in South Korea due to software glitches in their charging systems, as reported by South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. Hyundai will recall a considerable number of EVs affecting five models, including the popular Ioniq-series. Concurrently, Kia will recall over 56,000 EVs.
Regardless of these issues, shares of both companies rose about 0.3%. The broader Kospi index, on the other hand, declined by 1%.
In Taiwan, the multinational electronic contract manufacturer Foxconn experienced a stock surge of over 8% following the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year results. The company, traded as Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan, recorded an impressive full-year attributable profit.
In response to these developments, Hon Hai announced that it would distribute a record cash dividend per share. This marked the fifth consecutive year that the company has maintained a payout ratio exceeding 50%.
Finally, Japan’s finance minister, Shunichi Suzuki, stated that the nation “no longer faces deflation” and highlighted a “strong trend of wage hikes,” presenting a stark contrast to previous authorities’ statements. As a result of these promising trends, Suzuki emphasized that the government would undertake all available policy measures to ensure the sustained positive momentum on wages.
Vocabulary List:
- Cessation (noun): The fact or process of ending or being brought to an end.
- Prospective (adjective): Expected or likely to happen or become.
- Critical (adjective): Involving careful judgment or evaluation.
- Recall (verb): Bring back to one mindespecially so as to recount past events.
- Surge (noun): A sudden powerful forward or upward movement.
- Promising (adjective): Likely to be successful or advantageous.
