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The U.S. and Abu Dhabi governments will invest $1.8 billion into mining and refining projects across the globe with private equity fund Orion Resource Partners to bolster Western access to lithium, rare earths and other critical minerals. The investment plan, announced on Thursday, comes as market leader China crimps access to critical minerals even as demand jumps globally across the economy, forcing manufacturers and others to jostle for fresh supply. The U.S. International Development Finance Corp (DFC), which is controlled by Washington, Orion, and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, have contributed $1.8 billion - $600 million each - to the newly formed Orion Critical Mineral Consortium. The consortium, which hopes to grow to $5 billion with funds from others across the globe, aims to quickly get minerals supply to market and plans to avoid exploration-stage projects. "What we're focused on is projects that are in production or can be put into production in the very near term to get material back to the U.S. and allied nations," said Frank Fannon, the consortium's managing partner who served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources during President Donald Trump's first term. For other potential investors, Fannon said Orion would seek those with a "shared value and shared understanding" of the need to boost Western access to critical minerals. Orion's announcement comes two days after private equity firm Appian Capital Advisory and the International Finance Corporation launched their own $1 billion fund to invest in minerals projects in Africa and Latin America. Orion plans to "go where the rocks are" and invest in mines across the globe as well as the processing facilities needed to turn metals into the building blocks for batteries and other equipment, Fannon said. "We are absolutely committed to funding the supply chain to the extent necessary to secure end-stage product for customers and consumers," said Oskar Lewnowski, Orion's founder and CEO. Orion will focus its investments on minerals considered critical by the U.S., Canada, the European Union and Australia, as well as copper and uranium, both executives said. The DFC, which also holds a stake in mining firm TechMet, will be involved in investment decisions and that involvement should help reduce any project's geopolitical risk, the executives said. "The (U.S.) government certainly brings a lot to bear, particularly in emerging market contexts, and that makes investments that much more tenable for us," Lewnowski said. When asked if Orion was interested in Ukraine's mining sector, Lewnowski said: "Ukraine has some very interesting rocks. And let's leave it at that." The Trump administration has taken equity stakes directly in MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and others, underscoring Washington's increasing willingness to directly involve itself in the private mining sector. Critical mineral companies have also boosted U.S. lobbying efforts, hoping to share in the ambitious investments that Trump has pledged to firms deemed essential to national security.

Mumbai: India's stock indices ended higher for the sixth straight session on Thursday, after giving up most of the near 1% gains earlier in the day, sparked by optimism around reports that India is negotiating with the US to bring down tariffs to 15-16% from 50%. While Information Technology (IT) stocks led the upward move on expectations of a trade deal and relaxation in H-1B visa rules, the decline in Reliance Industries shares put a lid on upside. The NSE Nifty finished at 25,891, up 0.1% or 22 points. The BSE Sensex ended at 84,556, 0.2% or 130 points higher. Both indices are nearly 1.5% away from their record closing levels hit in late September last year. "The markets rallied based on the positive sentiment on reports of India and the US being close to finalisation of the trade deal and correction in precious metals," said Rajesh Palviya, head of Technical and Derivatives, Axis Securities. Elsewhere in Asia, markets were mixed. Japan dropped 1.4% while South Korea and Taiwan declined 1% and 0.4% respectively. Indonesia climbed 1.5% and Hong Kong rose 0.8%. China ended 0.2% higher.124774052 At home, the Nifty IT index jumped 2.2% while the Nifty Private Bank index rose 0.5%. The Nifty Oil & Gas index slid 0.6% lower, and the Auto index ended marginally lower. "All export-based sectors with a high exposure to the US witnessed a short squeeze on Thursday, after the good momentum in the past few sessions," said Sunny Agrawal, head of Fundamental Equity Research, SBI Securities. Agrawal expects the Nifty to face a hurdle at the 26,300 levels. The index's current all-time closing high is 26,216.05. The Nifty Midcap 150 and the Smallcap 250 indices declined 0.2% each. Out of the 4,389 shares traded on BSE, 1,809 advanced, while 2,464 declined. In the past week, the mid-cap and small-cap indices climbed 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively. Palviya said once the benchmark reaches a new high, the broader market is expected to participate in the rally. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net ₹1,165.9 crore on Thursday. Their domestic counterparts bought shares worth ₹3,893.7 crore crore. In October, global investors bought shares worth ₹969.8 crore. "Overseas investors are buying gradually but the buying is in selective pockets as they are not in a hurry to cover short positions and turn until there is a concrete outcome of the trade deal," said Palviya. "Nifty is trading a few hundred points shy of its all-time high but the set up indicates that call writers are already in place for October expiry. The index is expected to pause briefly and then resume an upward trajectory to cross record highs in November."

New Delhi: The government will likely amend the law governing the chartered accountancy profession to ease restrictions on these professionals and their firms to advertise themselves, in a significant change aimed at enabling them to draw assignments better by showcasing their services, and grow, people aware of the details said.Under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, CAs and their firms are currently allowed to advertise only in a limited manner through "write-ups", with curbs on the size of the font and photographs that can be used, among other restrictions. The new plan is aimed at facilitating the creation of big homegrown firms that can compete with international players and grab a slice of the $240 billion global auditing and consultancy market.ICAI mulling changes to Ethics CodeWhen sought his views, ICAI president Charanjot Singh Nanda said the apex auditors' body, too, is planning to suggest to the corporate affairs ministry amendments to the law to further relax advertisement rules for its members.The institute is also considering a revision of its Code of Ethics for chartered accountants and firms, he told ET. This would include revision of the guidelines for advertisement and websites for accounting firms and network firms. The ICAI will release draft regulations for this purpose in a day or two for stakeholder comments, he said.The need for "certain relaxations has been identified, such as in the adopted mode of technology (pull or push mode), event gallery, font size, etc. and recommendations are being structured accordingly", Nanda said. "These guidelines, while ensuring adherence with ethics, will enhance visibility for firms and their services."The Chartered Accountant Act, in its original form, didn't allow professionals or firms any advertisement. However, after amendments to the law in 2006, limited advertisements through write-ups were permitted, subject to conditions. Subsequently, the ICAI issued Advertisement Guidelines, stipulating various dos and don'ts. To facilitate the creation of large domestic audit and consultancy firms comparable to the Big Four, Nanda said the institute has submitted its suggestions to the corporate affairs ministry. These include facilitating consolidation and growth through simplified regulatory procedures and fiscal incentives, bolstering the operational capacity of domestic networks of Indian CA firms and improving the overall ease of professional practices by rationalising compliance requirements, he added. The absence of large homegrown firms has allowed the Big Four-EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC-along with Grant Thornton and BDO to dominate the Indian audit ecosystem. For its part, the institute has taken a raft of measures, such as revision of the Merger & Demerger of CA Firms Guidelines, 2024 and introduction of Aggregation of LLPs Guidelines, 2024, to encourage CA firms to build scale via collaborations, Nanda said.

Indian companies increased their reliance on the debt money market for their short-term working capital needs with the issuance value of commercial papers increasing to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in September, the highest monthly print since April.It marked a 44% jump from the value seen in August and a 34% year-on-year increase, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. This was despite the hardening of average yield on commercial papers in September. August saw a CP value of Rs 1.18 lakh crore while it was Rs 1.27 lakh crore in September last year.The trend is in line with the structural shift in fundraising among Indian companies.“Corporates are cash-rich, while they have access to debt and equity markets. They have multiple sources of funding,” ICICI Bank executive director Sandeep Batra said last week.The total flow of resources from non-bank sources to the commercial sector increased by Rs 2.66 lakh crore in 2025-26 till September, more than offsetting the decline in non-food bank credit by Rs 48,000 crore, the central bank documents showed.Among the non-bank sources, issuances of corporate bonds by non-financial entities increased by Rs 1.66 lakh crore while net inward foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by Rs 0.93 lakh crore. Non-bank lenders, too, remained a dominant source of non-bank credit.“A structural change is happening in the economy in terms of where the funds are raised from. Historically we were used to looking at the credit growth data as an indication of resource availability. That is no longer the case,” chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran had said last month at an event in Kolkata.In the July-September quarter, commercial papers worth Rs 4.41 lakh crore were issued, about 15% higher than the year-ago period's Rs 3.84 lakh crore, RBI's monthly data showed.Banks' year-on-year credit growth print was at 11.4% at the end of October 3, against 12.8% seen a year ago.The overall domestic financial conditions remained mildly tight in the latter half of September. The weighted average call rate—the operating target of monetary policy—hovered close to the policy repo rate in September and October. Average yields on treasury bills moderated while those on certificates of deposit and commercial papers hardened, the central bank's state of the economy report observed. “In the fixed income segment, while the short-end of the government securities yields declined, yields at the longer-end remained flat. Corporate bond yields and spreads increased across tenors and the rating spectrum,” it said.