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Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region seem to regain some calm after Monday’s “bloodbath” amid fears about worsening consumer finances following US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Japan’s Nikkei, South Korea’s Kospi, and Australia’s ASX 200 all opened in green on Tuesday morning, although they only regained a fraction of yesterday’s mega losses.

Tokyo’s Nikkei index jumped nearly 6 per cent in early trade on Tuesday after plunging an eye-watering 7.8 per cent the previous day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 5.81 percent, or 1,809.92 points, to 32,946.50 yen, while the broader Topix index gained 6.20 percent, or 141.82 points, to 2,430.48 yen.

Seoul’s Kospi index was also up nearly 2 per cent. However, Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index plummeted more than 5 per cent, adding to an almost 10 per cent plunge on Monday.

Australian stocks also surged as banking and mining shares rose, driven by reassurance from the Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 1.1 per cent to 7,423.40 points. The benchmark had finished 4.2 per cent lower on Monday.

ndian markets also opened in green. Sensex jumped over 550 points, while Nifty was up at 22,440 in pre-open session.

The market in Hong Kong crawled back some of the massive losses suffered the day before after China retaliated in kind against US tariffs, though Shanghai dropped further.

The Hang Seng Index added 1.66 percent, or 329.22 points, to 20,157.52, but the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.07 percent, or 2.31 points, to 3,094.26.

The effect of Yesterday’s bloodshed was again seen in Vietnam, where stocks are down more than 3.5 per cent after the trading holiday, while Indonesian shares have also plummeted over 9 per cent at open.

Thailand’s stocks also fell more than four percent at the opening on Tuesday, after escaping the turmoil that hit global markets a day earlier because of a national holiday.

Investors took the opportunity to buy up beaten-down stocks after Monday’s 13.2 percent rout wiped trillions off company valuations as US President Donald Trump’s trade war ramps up recession worries.

US-China Trade War

Trump on Monday threatened to impose an additional tariff of 50 per cent on Beijing’s imports to the US will affect the stocks, after China announced a tit-for-tat 34 per cent tariff on the United States. 

In retaliation, China’s commerce ministry on Tuesday vowed to fight US tariffs “to the end” and also threatened to take “countermeasures” to defend its “rights and interests” should Trump go ahead with his threat.

“The US threat to escalate tariffs against China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which once again exposes the US’s blackmailing nature,” a ministry spokesperson said.

“China will never accept this,” they said.

“If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end. If the US escalates its tariff measures, China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” the spokesperson added.

Trump upended the world economy last week with sweeping tariffs that have raised fears of an international recession and triggered criticism even from within his own Republican Party. As the trade war escalates, Beijing — Washington’s major economic rival — unveiled its own 34 percent duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday.

China’s commerce ministry also on Tuesday reiterated that it sought “dialogue” with the United States, and that there were “no winners in a trade war”.

‘Hint Of Optimism’

Analysts believe that Asian markets are showing a ‘hint of optimism’ after the US futures market showed an ascent.

What is currently happening is “something of a natural market bounce following Monday’s calamities,” Tim Waterer from the KCM Trade brokerage told the BBC.

“US futures markets have been moving higher, which has given a hint of optimism for Asian markets,” he added.

Vishnu Varathan from Mizuho Securities Singapore told the British publication that what investors are seeing is “some scope for a rebalancing” after several “rather ugly” market sessions.

“It’s just a case of waiting it out to determine which way [tariff threats] swing,” Varathan added.

Former chairperson of Finance Commission NK Singh on Monday said the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in India’s quest to become a “Viksit Bharat’ (developed India).

Speaking at NDTV’s ‘Emerging Business- Delhi Chapter Conclave‘, Mr Singh said if the MSMEs today contribute 30 per cent to the country’s GDP, they should take it up to 40 per cent to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “viksit Bharat” by 2047.

Mr Singh, who served as the chairman of the Fifteenth Finance Commission from 2017 to 2023, also said that women’s empowerment in the sector plays a key role.

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“The role of the MSMEs sector in India becoming a developed economy is not only a supporting productivity role in terms of improving the capital output ratio and total factor productivity, but becoming a higher proportion of the GDP coming from this sector with an increasing higher proportion of women making an important role to play,” he said.

Asked about a World Bank report, which said that the women-led enterprises represent 23 per cent of all MSMEs, but account for 31 per cent of the financing gap, Mr Singh said the report has highlighted that the financing gap is disproportionately higher and needs to be addressed.

the former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer said the gender budgeting for government initiatives needs to be intensified.

He also said they require “special” help in becoming part of the value chain, technology, and skill degradation.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met global CEOs, pension fund managers and other institutional investors here, and discussed the opportunity for collaboration in the domain of energy and sustainability, the Rs 1 lakh crore ($12 billion) corpus private sector-driven research, development, and innovation scheme, and GIFT-IFSC, among others.

In the presence of Finance Secretary Ajay Seth and Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Ambassador of India to the US, the Finance Minister listened to their views on the reforms pursued by the Indian government, and gave feedback and observation on the existing policy framework.

They spoke about their keen interest and commitment for a deeper and broad-based investment collaboration between the US and India and shared feedback on how to further facilitate and enhance the investment experience.

The Union Minister thanked the participants for their valuable feedback and suggestions.

In her one-on-one meetings with top CEOs, FM Sitharaman discussed opportunities in the fields of AI, Cloud and digital infrastructure.

Jonathan Siddharth, CEO of Turing, expressed his desire to see India at the forefront of AI revolution and spoke about working in the domain of AI with India and through Indian contributors to create a sovereign model that can serve as a template for the world.

The Finance Minister highlighted policy framework that has been put in place by India for AI, and encouraged Siddharth to explore opportunities for collaboration and fruitful engagement.

Debanjan Saha, Chief Executive Officer at DataRobot, referred to India’s potential to become an AI superpower and expressed interest in participating in the AI Centre of Excellence, for which the Union Budget 2025-26 recently allocated Rs 500 crore.

The minister underlined the steps that the government has taken over years to boost digital infrastructure, including budgeting Rs. 10,300 crore for IndiaAI Mission, creating AI language technologies through BharatGen and Sarvam-1, and the establishment of the Srijan Centre for Generative AI at IIT Jodhpur.

She informed Saha about the potential opportunity through the proposed Rs. 1 lakh crore corpus for private sector-driven research, development, and innovation.

In her meeting with Anjney Midha, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram, the minister discussed the remarkable transformation in technology space driven by the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting them to explore collaboration across sectors within the domain of AI.

She also met Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive Officer of Google Cloud and his team. They discussed the transformative evolution of India’s digital infrastructure under the Digital India initiative in recent years, positioning the country as a global leader in digital adoption.

Kurian acknowledged and appreciated India’s AI Mission, and the trajectory India is taking under the leadership of PM Modi and called for connecting India to the world via land and sea cables. He said that Google Cloud aims to operate entirely on carbon-free energy at its data centres and offices worldwide by 2030 and spoke about upcoming investment strategy that the group is working on for India.

The Finance Ministry has granted tax exemption status to the National Mission for Clean Ganga, according to a notification of the CBDT, the decision-making body for the Income Tax department and direct taxes administration.

The notification also specified that the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the implementing body of the government’s flagship Namami Gange programme, was now an authority constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

It said that the NMCG, an authority constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, will now enjoy income tax exemption starting from the assessment year 2024-25.

The exemption is subject to the condition that the NMCG continues to operate as an authority under the Environment (Protection) Act with one or more purposes outlined in sub-clause (a) of clause (46A) of the Income Tax Act.

The Finance Ministry has granted tax exemption status to the National Mission for Clean Ganga, according to a notification of the CBDT, the decision-making body for the Income Tax department and direct taxes administration.

The notification also specified that the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the implementing body of the government’s flagship Namami Gange programme, was now an authority constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

It said that the NMCG, an authority constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, will now enjoy income tax exemption starting from the assessment year 2024-25.

The exemption is subject to the condition that the NMCG continues to operate as an authority under the Environment (Protection) Act with one or more purposes outlined in sub-clause (a) of clause (46A) of the Income Tax Act.

These purposes typically include objectives such as the promotion of sustainable development, conservation of the environment, and advancement of public welfare.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga, under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has projects spanning multiple states and include sewage treatment, river surface cleaning, afforestation, industrial effluent monitoring, and promoting public participation in Ganga conservation efforts.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to release $1.3 billion to Bangladesh in June, after completing a fourth review of its $4.7-billion loan programme and a key breakthrough in talks on exchange rate reforms, the country’s finance ministry said.

The funds, covering both the fourth and fifth tranches, had been held up as the IMF pressed for greater exchange rate flexibility, particularly the adoption of a crawling peg mechanism.

The fourth review in Dhaka in April was followed by further discussions during the Bank-Fund Spring Meetings in Washington DC that month, focused on critical reforms in revenue management, fiscal policy, and the foreign exchange regime.

“After carefully reviewing all the issues … both parties have agreed on the revenue management, currency exchange rate and other reform frameworks,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

With completion of a staff-level agreement on the fourth review, the IMF is expected to release $1.3 billion set for the fourth and fifth installments together by June, it added.

The government has also dissolved the National Board of Revenue (NBR), replacing it with two divisions under the finance ministry, to meet a key IMF condition.

One division will handle tax policy with the other managing tax collection and administration, aiming to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability, the government said.
In addition to the IMF funds, the government expects budget support of $2 billion from development partners, the finance ministry added.

These bodies include the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Japan, and the OPEC Fund for International Development, it added.

Bangladesh turned to the IMF in 2023 for the $4.7-billion bailout as its foreign reserves were pressured by a global surge in commodity prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, straining its ability to pay for key imports of fuel and gas.

The South Asian nation previously received $2.3 billion across the first three tranches.

An interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus took office in August after the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina following deadly protests.

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