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New Delhi, Apr 29 (BNP): India must adopt a comprehensive and long-term policy approach to address the growing risks arising from currency depreciation, imported inflation, and a widening balance of payments (BoP) deficit, according to a recent report by the State Bank of India.

The report underscores that the primary concern is not just immediate external shocks, but their “second-round effects” on the broader economy. When the rupee weakens, the cost of essential imports such as crude oil and raw materials rises. Over time, businesses transfer these higher costs to consumers, resulting in sustained inflationary pressures.

It further notes that continued capital outflows are adding to the strain on the rupee, creating a cycle where depreciation fuels inflation, and inflation, in turn, weakens economic stability.

Importantly, the report points out that the current depreciation of the rupee appears misaligned with India’s macroeconomic fundamentals. This makes it crucial for policymakers to intervene with structural solutions rather than relying solely on short-term measures.

A central issue highlighted is the widening balance of payments deficit. A deficit occurs when a country’s total outflows—such as payments for imports, services, and investments abroad—exceed its inflows from exports and foreign investments. This imbalance can erode foreign exchange reserves and put downward pressure on the national currency.

The implications are far-reaching. A persistent deficit can lead to higher inflation, reduced investor confidence, and increased vulnerability to global financial shocks. It may also constrain the country’s ability to sustain stable economic growth.

The report calls for targeted structural reforms aimed at stabilizing the currency, managing inflation expectations, and reducing external imbalances. Addressing these challenges proactively will be essential to safeguarding India’s economic resilience amid an uncertain global environment.

Mumbai, Apr 29 (BNP): Indian stock markets opened higher on Wednesday, holding firm despite rising crude oil prices and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

The BSE Sensex gained around 400 points, or 0.52%, to trade at 77,289.55 in early deals. The Nifty 50 also moved up by 0.53%, reaching 24,123.55.

Gains were seen across several sectors, with auto stocks leading the rally. Chemicals, real estate, oil & gas, and IT stocks also saw steady buying interest, reflecting positive investor sentiment in domestic markets.

However, not all stocks participated in the rally. Companies such as Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, and SBI Life faced selling pressure during the session.

Despite tensions in the Gulf region, markets remained stable for now. Analysts say investors are closely watching developments related to global energy supply, especially after disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices continued to rise amid reports that the United States may extend restrictions on Iranian ports, which could tighten global supply. There are also concerns that changes within major oil-producing groups could further impact availability.

Brent crude was up 0.63% at $111.97 per barrel, while US WTI crude rose 0.81% to $100.74.

Global cues were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei declined, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng posted gains and South Korea’s Kospi traded slightly higher. In the United States, markets ended lower, with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closing in the red.

Hyderabad, Apr 29: Hyderabad Runners Society (HRS) today officially announced the launch of Charity Bibs for the 15^th Edition of NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2026, reinforcing its continued commitment to social impact through sport. The announcement was made at a press conference held at FTCCI, Lakdikapool, in the presence of elite marathon runner Sawan Barwal.

The Charity Bib initiative enables runners to raise funds for causes they care about, while participating in one of India’s premier marathon events. This year, 35 NGOs are already associated with the marathon, collectively working towards impactful fundraising and increased awareness for diverse social causes.

A Platform for Purpose-Driven Running

Speaking at the event, representatives of Hyderabad Runners Society highlighted how the marathon has evolved into more than just a sporting event—it is now a platform for community engagement and social change.

The Charity Bib program invites individuals, corporates, and running enthusiasts to contribute towards meaningful causes by combining fitness with philanthropy.

Inspiration from India’s Marathon Record Holder

Addressing the media, Sawan Barwal shared insights from his journey and emphasized the growing culture of long-distance running in India. Having recently set a new national marathon record of 2:11:58 at the Rotterdam Marathon, breaking a 48-year-old record, his achievement stands as a defining moment in Indian athletics.

He encouraged aspiring runners to take part in events like the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon, not only for personal achievement but also to contribute to larger social causes.

Driving Collective Impact

With 35 NGOs already onboard, the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2026 aims to significantly scale its fundraising impact this year. The initiative will support a wide range of causes including education, healthcare, environment, and community development.

HRS reiterated its vision to build a strong ecosystem where running becomes a vehicle for positive change, bringing together citizens, corporates, and non-profits.

Thomas Cook India & SOTC Travel Highlight Asia as the Go-To for Spontaneous Summer Getaways

Apr 29: With summer already underway, Indian travellers are making the most of the season with spontaneous, experience-led getaways across East and Southeast Asia. Insights from Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel highlight a strong “Look East” trend, with travellers favouring destinations that offer ease of access, shorter travel durations and a rich mix of cultural, culinary and leisure experiences. From vibrant cities to island escapes, these destinations are emerging as the perfect playground for last-minute summer travel.

Japan Japan in summer is a sensory experience, where centuries-old traditions meet high-energy celebrations. Travellers can witness vibrant matsuri festivals with taiko drumming, parades and spectacular fireworks displays, while also exploring Tokyo’s immersive digital art museums and quirky themed cafés. In Kyoto, early morning heritage walks through temple districts and bamboo groves offer a quieter, cultural contrast. Food lovers can go beyond sushi—sampling regional ramen trails or joining izakaya hopping tours in Osaka. For a more offbeat experience, travellers can stay in a traditional ryokan, participate in a tea ceremony or take a scenic rail journey through the Japanese Alps, making every moment deeply immersive and uniquely local.

South Korea South Korea offers a compelling blend of pop culture, tradition and cutting-edge experiences that resonate strongly with Indian travellers. In Seoul, visitors can explore royal palaces like Gyeongbokgung in traditional hanbok, shop in vibrant districts such as Myeongdong and Gangnam, or dive into the city’s buzzing café and K-beauty culture. Food enthusiasts can indulge in Korean barbecue, street food markets and interactive cooking experiences. Beyond the capital, Busan’s coastal charm offers beachside relaxation and seafood markets, while Jeju Island provides scenic landscapes with waterfalls, lava tubes and hiking trails. From K-pop and K-dramas to heritage villages and wellness retreats, South Korea delivers a dynamic and trend-forward summer escape.

Indonesia Bali offers far more than just beaches, positioning itself as a holistic escape blending culture, wellness and adventure. Travellers can start their day with sunrise yoga overlooking rice terraces in Ubud, followed by a visit to Tirta Empul for a traditional water purification ritual. Evenings come alive with the dramatic Kecak fire dance at Uluwatu Temple set against a cliffside sunset. Adventure seekers can trek up Mount Batur at dawn or explore hidden waterfalls in the island’s interior. Bali’s café culture, beach clubs and artisanal markets add a contemporary edge, while the Bali Arts Festival provides an authentic window into the island’s rich cultural heritage.

Thailand Thailand continues to deliver high-energy, multi-layered travel experiences that cater to every kind of traveller. In Bangkok, visitors can explore bustling floating markets by day and rooftop bars by night, while also indulging in guided street food tours through Chinatown. The islands offer a different pace—whether it’s kayaking through limestone caves in Krabi, snorkelling in the Phi Phi Islands or enjoying a private long-tail boat excursion at sunset. Wellness seekers can indulge in traditional Thai spa therapies, while culture enthusiasts can visit ornate temples or even take a Thai cooking class. Thailand’s versatility and vibrant atmosphere make it a perennial summer favourite.

Vietnam Vietnam offers a dynamic mix of landscapes and experiences that feel both immersive and refreshingly different. Travellers can spend a night cruising through Ha Long Bay, waking up to sunrise over limestone karsts, or wander through Hoi An’s lantern-lit streets, stopping for riverside dining and local craft shopping. For a more relaxed island escape, Phu Quoc offers pristine beaches, crystal-clear waters and a slower pace of travel. Visitors can snorkel among vibrant coral reefs, take the world’s longest over-sea cable car to Hon Thom Island, or explore the lively night markets known for fresh seafood and local delicacies. In Sapa, guided treks through terraced rice fields offer interactions with local communities, adding depth to the journey. Urban explorers can dive into Hanoi’s Old Quarter on a vintage Vespa food tour or discover hidden cafés serving Vietnam’s famous egg coffee. With its balance of culture, cuisine, island escapes and natural beauty, Vietnam is quickly becoming a must-visit destination.

Singapore Singapore stands out as a destination that effortlessly combines efficiency with high-impact experiences. Travellers can begin with a sunrise walk at Gardens by the Bay before exploring the city’s diverse neighbourhoods—from Chinatown’s heritage streets to Kampong Glam’s trendy cafés. Thrill-seekers can head to Sentosa for ziplining or indoor skydiving, while families can enjoy Universal Studios and the Night Safari. Food lovers can embark on a hawker trail, sampling everything from chilli crab to Michelin-recognised street food. Evening experiences like river cruises or skyline light shows add to Singapore’s appeal as a compact yet experience-rich getaway.

Malaysia Malaysia offers a well-balanced itinerary with a mix of urban energy, cultural exploration and natural beauty. Kuala Lumpur’s skyline and shopping districts provide a lively start, while nearby Batu Caves offer a striking cultural landmark. In Langkawi, travellers can take the cable car up to the Sky Bridge for panoramic island views or enjoy mangrove kayaking through geoparks. Penang adds a creative and culinary layer, with street art trails, heritage walks and hands-on cooking classes. This diversity allows travellers to seamlessly combine multiple experiences within a single trip, making Malaysia both practical and rewarding.

Mauritius Mauritius goes beyond the typical beach holiday, offering a rich blend of relaxation and exploration. Travellers can sail on a catamaran along the coast, snorkel in coral reefs or take a helicopter ride to witness the island’s famous “underwater waterfall” illusion. Inland, lush national parks and waterfalls provide opportunities for hiking and nature trails, while cultural experiences—from sega dance performances to local rum tastings—offer insight into the island’s heritage. Whether it’s a scenic road trip or a luxury beachfront stay, Mauritius delivers a well-rounded, indulgent escape.

Maldives The Maldives offers an unparalleled sense of escape, where the focus is on slowing down and reconnecting. Beyond relaxing in overwater villas, travellers can snorkel alongside vibrant marine life, enjoy guided night fishing excursions or indulge in underwater dining experiences. Wellness is a key highlight, with spa therapies set against ocean views and sunrise yoga sessions on private decks. Unique experiences such as sandbank picnics, dolphin cruises and personalised butler-led stays elevate the destination beyond a typical beach holiday, making it ideal for those seeking exclusivity and tranquillity.

Philippines The Philippines is emerging as an offbeat yet highly rewarding destination, especially for travellers drawn to untouched natural beauty. Island-hopping in Palawan reveals hidden lagoons, limestone cliffs and crystal-clear waters, while Boracay offers a more vibrant beach scene with water sports and nightlife. Adventure seekers can go kayaking through secret caves, snorkel in coral gardens or take cliff-jumping excursions. Its relatively less crowded appeal compared to other Southeast Asian destinations makes the Philippines perfect for those looking to explore something new and less conventional this summer.

Australia Australia offers a diverse mix of experiences, from cosmopolitan cities to dramatic coastal landscapes. Travellers can explore Sydney’s iconic harbour, take coastal walks like Bondi to Coogee or enjoy wildlife encounters at conservation parks. A road trip along the Great Ocean Road provides stunning ocean views and access to natural landmarks like the Twelve Apostles. Food and wine enthusiasts can explore regions such as Yarra Valley, while adventure seekers can try surfing or diving along the Great Barrier Reef. Australia’s vastness makes it ideal for travellers looking to curate a varied and immersive itinerary.

New Zealand New Zealand is a paradise for nature lovers and adventure enthusiasts alike. Travellers can cruise through the breathtaking fjords of Milford Sound, take scenic drives through rolling landscapes or explore glowworm caves for a unique natural spectacle. Queenstown, known as the adventure capital, offers everything from bungee jumping and jet boating to more relaxed vineyard tours. For a slower pace, visitors can enjoy lakeside stays, scenic ट्रेन journeys and immersive Māori cultural experiences. The country’s pristine beauty and wide range of activities make it a truly unforgettable destination.

SAN DIEGO & NEW YORK, April 29, 2026 – Kyriba, the global leader in liquidity performance and treasury management, and Circle (NYSE:CRCL), one of the world’s leading financial platform companies and the issuer of USDC through its regulated entities, today announced a collaboration to bring digital dollar capabilities into the treasury systems many enterprises already use — helping treasury teams begin putting stablecoins to work within familiar tools, controls, and workflows..

By embedding USDC within Kyriba’s platform and pairing it with its Trusted Agentic AI (TAI), the collaboration will enable treasury teams to manage intercompany liquidity more efficiently, access 24/7 liquidity, and make more informed, policy-driven liquidity decisions. It operates within existing workflows and controls, without requiring new systems or costly infrastructure changes.

At the core of the collaboration is Kyriba’s TAI, purpose-built for enterprise treasury operations. TAI continuously monitors USDC positions and liquidity conditions in real time, identifies when action is required, and supports treasury teams with intelligent decisioning and policy-based, agentic orchestration within predefined policies and approval frameworks.

From payment initiation through settlement and audit logging, the collaboration helps enterprises bring stablecoin capabilities into established treasury operations. Every action remains fully traceable, with transactions routed through existing approval structures and no customer data stored externally or used for model training.

Solving real treasury friction

These capabilities are especially relevant for treasury activity, including intercompany flows where settlement cutoffs, delays, and cash-in-transit can slow close processes and tie up working capital. With USDC embedded in Kyriba and powered by TAI, treasury teams can now:

• Settle eligible cross-border and intercompany payments in near real-time, eliminating multi-day settlement delays, reducing FX exposure, and shrinking cash-in-transit..

• Access liquidity 24/7, including outside traditional banking hours.

• Manage stablecoin balances alongside traditional cash positions within a familiar treasury environment, supporting multi-entity treasury operations without changing existing workflows.

• Choose to automate liquidity decisions and facilitate execution through AI-driven monitoring and policy-based workflows.

• Execute with full governance, with every transaction subject to the same controls, payment policies, and audit standards as traditional payments.

Enterprise demand for this infrastructure is accelerating. USDC in circulation reached $75.3 billion at year-end 2025, up 72% year-on-year, with quarterly on-chain transaction volume hitting $11.9 trillion—a 247% increase in a single year. At the same time, greater regulatory clarity and growing enterprise familiarity with stablecoins are helping organizations move from exploration toward practical implementation, positioning programmable money at the center of enterprise treasury strategy. By integrating USDC directly into Kyriba’s platform, used by over 4,000 customers worldwide, including many Fortune 100 enterprises—the collaboration extends stablecoin-powered capabilities into mainstream treasury environments and across a broad ecosystem of banking partners.

Greater regulatory clarity and growing enterprise familiarity with stablecoins are helping organizations move from exploration toward practical implementation, positioning programmable money at the center of enterprise treasury strategy.

Melissa Di Donato, Chair and Chief Executive Officer at Kyriba, said: “Treasury teams have been waiting for a way to access the speed and efficiency of digital currencies without compromising the governance and control their organizations require. By embedding USDC into Kyriba’s TAI agentic orchestration layer, we’ve eliminated that trade-off. This is agentic finance operating at enterprise standards – and we are thrilled to make it available today.”

Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Circle, said: “Enterprises increasingly see the value of digital dollars, but many have lacked a practical way to use them within existing treasury operations. Our collaboration with Kyriba helps remove that barrier by bringing USDC into the systems treasury teams already trust and making intercompany and global money movement faster, more efficient, and easier to operationalize within familiar controls and workflows.”

EDINBURGH, Scotland, April 29, 2026 — Metacarpal, the Edinburgh-based medical device company and creators of the world’s first multi-articulated body-powered prosthetic hand, celebrates a landmark milestone as Founder and CEO Fergal Mackie earns a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Science and Healthcare list for 2026. The recognition arrives as Metacarpal accelerates its commercial push into the United States and Canada, backed by FDA registration, 40 active users, and a host of investors.

Forbes recognized Fergal Mackie, 28, alongside researchers, doctors, and entrepreneurs improving healthcare and building the hardware of the future. The honor reflects not only the company’s rapid commercial traction since launching sales in September 2025, but also the human story at the heart of Metacarpal’s mission. Before his final year at the University of Strathclyde, Fergal Mackie broke both wrists and was forced to rethink how he completed everyday tasks. That experience gave him something no laboratory could replicate: a firsthand understanding of what upper-limb amputees actually need.

“Being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list is a reminder of why we started this company,” said Fergal Mackie, Founder and CEO of Metacarpal. “The prosthetics industry has spent decades chasing complexity, and millions of people have simply stopped using devices that don’t work for their lives. We built GEM because amputees deserve a hand that works every single time, that they can trust and rely upon.”

With 41,000 Americans living with major upper-limb amputations and 50% of upper-limb prosthetic users abandoning their devices, the North American market represents a largely unserved opportunity. Despite decades of innovations in robotic hands, hooks have remained the most popular devices. Users have been telling the industry that they value reliable performance and durability over complex features.

Metacarpal’s flagship device, the GEM Hand, addresses this gap directly. Powered by the user’s own body motion through patented Reactive Grasp Technology, the GEM Hand delivers multiple grip patterns, immediate proportional pressure feedback, and long-term reliability without electronic components, batteries, or complex control systems. For the first time, prosthetic users have access to advanced abilities without compromising their performance or control. 

David Bowie, Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Metacarpal, brings 35 years of MedTech experience to the company’s leadership. His confidence in Metacarpal’s potential led him from an early advisory role to a formal position as a non-executive director and investor in late 2021.

“In the five years I have known Fergal Mackie, he has continued to grow as a leader, building a team of recognized, credible people with the experience and expertise to compete at the highest level,” said David Bowie, Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Metacarpal. “What he has built at Metacarpal has the potential to change the landscape and functionality of prosthetics and bring this technology to the people who need it most. It is a valuable and exciting journey to be part of.”

Erica Karlson, North American Director of Metacarpal, leads the U.S. rollout of the GEM Hand and brings more than 18 years of device sales experience to the company’s expansion, with nearly 12 years focused specifically on upper-limb prosthetic solutions. Karlson builds clinical and distributor networks, leads prosthetist training, and channels user feedback to drive adoption of GEM across North America.

“I’ve seen firsthand the level of focus, drive, and intention behind what we’re building, and it’s exciting to be part of it,” said Erica Karlson, North American Director of Metacarpal. “What Fergal Mackie and this team have accomplished in Europe is already creating real momentum in the U.S. market, and everything that is ahead for this company is something I am proud to be leading from the North American side.”

Metacarpal has secured $2.7 million from investors, including SIS Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, Worth Capital, and Oxford Technology, and operates out of the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, one of Europe’s leading robotics and AI research facilities. The company’s long-term vision extends beyond North America, with plans to bring its technology to developing countries and conflict zones where access to reliable, affordable prosthetics remains critically limited.

Mackie was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in April 2026, and featured among some of the region’s best professionals dedicated to science and health. A panel of expert judges drawn from venture capital, entrepreneurship, and industry leadership chose the winners based on innovation, impact, and the potential to shape their field. The full Science and Healthcare list is available at forbes.com.