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US President Donald Trump has spent years attacking his predecessor Barack Obama for what he called a giveaway to Iran. The image of "pallets of cash" became one of his favorite political talking points, a symbol of what he portrayed as weakness in dealing with Tehran.Yet the irony of the current moment is becoming harder to ignore. As negotiations to end the latest US-Iran confrontation stall, Iran is demanding access to billions of dollars in frozen assets, and the success of any deal may depend on whether Trump agrees to some form of financial relief. The president who built his Iran policy around rejecting Obama's approach may now find himself confronting the same reality that faced previous administrations -- diplomacy with Iran often comes with a price tag.Pay $12 billion now, and $12 billion laterAn indication of how central money has become to the negotiations came from Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in an exclusive interview with CNN. According to Rezaei, the negotiations have reached a deadlock and the responsibility for breaking it lies squarely with Trump. He said Iran wants the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, with $12 billion to be made available immediately after an interim agreement is signed and another $12 billion at a later stage.Also Read | Iran says frozen funds key to progress in US talksRezaei termed the demand not a concession from Washington but as a test of American intentions. "If he wants to reach an agreement with Iran, this $24 billion is a test of trust that Iran wants to have with Trump," he told CNN. "This is our own money, not America's money."The significance of the demand extends beyond the amount involved. By publicly linking the prospects of peace to the release of frozen assets, Iran has effectively made financial compensation the central political hurdle in the negotiations.Trump's Obama problemFor Trump, the issue is not as much financial as deeply political. CNN reported that Trump has repeatedly instructed his team that any agreement with Iran must be viewed as stronger than the 2015 nuclear accord negotiated by Obama. Equally important, he wants to avoid anything that resembles the controversial payments that became a focal point of Republican criticism a decade ago.Throughout his political career, Trump has portrayed the Obama administration's handling of Iran as evidence of weak leadership. Recently, he revived his criticism of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, describing it as a horrible deal and insisting that any agreement he reaches will be far better. That political history now threatens to constrain his negotiating options. A deal that includes billions of dollars flowing to Iran could invite immediate comparisons with the very agreement he spent years denouncing.Also Read | Iran retains about 22% of missile stockpile, says TrumpWhat Obama actually didThe comparison is unavoidable because financial relief was also a major feature of the Obama-era approach. The JCPOA, finalized in 2015 after negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 powers, imposed strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The agreement capped uranium enrichment, reduced centrifuge capacity and established what experts described as one of the most intrusive inspection regimes ever negotiated.The deal also coincided with the release of $1.7 billion to Iran, a figure that Trump and other critics frequently cited as evidence of appeasement. Critics argued that sanctions relief and financial compensation rewarded Iranian behaviour across the region.Supporters of the agreement took a different view. They argued that much of the money involved consisted of Iranian assets that had already belonged to Iran and that the deal successfully halted Tehran's progress toward a nuclear weapon while providing unprecedented transparency into its nuclear program.Former US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who helped negotiate the agreement, told CNBC that the JCPOA's most important achievement was its extraordinary verification system. Arms control experts similarly maintain that the deal effectively constrained Iran's nuclear ambitions before it unraveled.Why the current situation is more difficultThe irony for Trump is that negotiations now are taking place under conditions far less favorable than those that existed in 2015. After the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran gradually breached many of the agreement's restrictions. It expanded uranium enrichment, accumulated a much larger stockpile of nuclear material and scaled back some transparency measures.Many think that any new agreement must address a more advanced Iranian nuclear programme and a more complicated political environment. There is also the added challenge of rebuilding trust after years of mutual escalation. That reality means economic incentives have become even more important. Tehran is demanding tangible benefits upfront rather than promises of future relief. From Iran's perspective, accepting new restrictions without immediate financial gains would be politically difficult.Trump's search for a political workaroundTrump's advisers are acutely aware of the political risks. According to CNN, administration officials are exploring mechanisms that would allow Iran to receive financial relief without creating the appearance of a direct US payment. One possibility involves third countries such as Qatar releasing funds. Another would permit access to frozen assets while restricting their use to humanitarian purchases such as food, medicine and agricultural goods. There have also been discussions about creating reconstruction funds financed largely by Gulf states rather than the United States.These proposals reflect an important reality. The debate is no longer about whether Iran should receive economic relief at some stage. It is increasingly about how that relief can be structured so that Trump can claim he has not repeated Obama's mistakes. In that sense, the dispute is becoming as much about political messaging as about financial policy.Leverage versus peaceThe White House remains reluctant to surrender what it views as one of its strongest bargaining tools. Trump has publicly insisted that the United States will retain control over frozen Iranian funds until Iran meets Washington's demands. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has similarly emphasised that sanctions relief should follow compliance rather than precede it.The administration's concern is straightforward. Once funds are released, Washington loses a major source of leverage. That leverage could prove critical during the highly technical second phase of negotiations focused on Iran's nuclear program. Iran, however, sees the issue differently. For Tehran, immediate access to frozen assets is evidence that the United States is negotiating in good faith. Without such a gesture, Iranian leaders appear unwilling to commit themselves to a broader settlement. That difference in perspective has created the current impasse.The choice facing TrumpThe strategic dilemma confronting Trump is becoming increasingly clear. He can maintain a hard line and refuse any significant financial concession, preserving political consistency but risking the collapse of negotiations. Or he can accept some form of economic relief for Iran, potentially unlocking a broader peace agreement but exposing himself to accusations that he has embraced a version of the same approach he once condemned.Rezaei's comments to CNN show how central that decision has become. By presenting the release of $24 billion as a test of trust, Iran has effectively challenged Trump to choose between ideological purity and diplomatic pragmatism. For a president who built his Iran policy in opposition to Obama's legacy, that may be the most uncomfortable choice of all. If peace ultimately requires releasing billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, Trump would be seen as eating his words when he had asked Iran for complete surrender.
Coca‑Cola Company is exploring a public listing in India for Hindustan Coca‑Cola Holdings Pvt Ltd (HCCH), parent company of its largest bottler in India Hindustan Coca‑Cola Beverages (HCCB), the Atlanta-based beverages maker announced early Tuesday. The maker of Coke and Sprite sparkling drinks and Minute Maid juices said in a statement that the potential listing is expected in 2027, with the sale of a portion of its shareholding in HCCH in connection with the listing.Coca-Cola currently owns 60% of HCCH after selling a 40% stake to the Jubilant Bhartia Group in July 2025.“Initial preparations are underway for a potential listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India, subject to market conditions and applicable regulatory and other approvals,” the statement said.The company said the potential listing “will be a significant milestone, completing the refranchising of HCCH and positioning it well to capitalise on the opportunities in the Indian market.”Sanket Ray, president, India and Southwest Asia and Emerging Large Markets Lead for The Coca‑Cola Company, called the move “another important step for HCCB. Following the listing, the bottler will be well placed to continue to pursue growth.”HCCH, and its operating subsidiary HCCB, established in 1997, operated a network of over 2,000 distributors and reached over 1.7 million customers, as on March 31, 2026. The company has an employee base of 5,000, and operates 14 bottling plants in addition to eight co-packers.The Coca‑Cola Company has retained Rothschild & Co to advise on the listing, it said, adding that “further details about the potential listing will be announced at a later date.”Rival PepsiCo’s bottling operator Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL) had made its listing debut in November 2016.
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank will explore the use of CBDC in cross-border transactions besides expanding the digital rupee to more direct benefit transfer schemes and domestic retail space during the current fiscal year. During 2025-26, the central bank launched multiple Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilots under direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes of the Centre and state governments, leveraging the programmability capability of CBDCs, said the RBI's annual report for 2025-26. On cross-border payments, the RBI signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) on digital asset collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in 2025-26. Also, bilateral discussions with MAS and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) were held for operationalising a cross-border CBDC pilot. The Reserve Bank also joined multilateral BIS-Innovation Hub-led initiatives, which are focused on enhancing cross-border payments through CBDCs. The Reserve Bank plans to expand the CBDC pilot to cover new use cases under DBT schemes and the domestic retail space, while exploring additional pilots on tokenisation of financial assets and widening participant coverage. On cross-border payments, the RBI intends to operationalise bilateral CBDC pilots with select use cases and deepen engagement in multilateral projects. "Exploring a bilateral/multilateral crossborder CBDC pilot with select use cases and engaging in multilateral projects on cross-border payments on technical and governance standards" is one of the RBI's agenda for FY27. Providing a framework for testing of innovative products/services leveraging CBDC under the CBDC and Asset Tokenisation (CAT) sandbox is also on the RBI's to-do list during the current fiscal year. The value of bank notes in circulation in digital form CBDC-R stood at Rs 771.66 crore as on March 31, 2026, as compared to Rs 1,016.46 crore as on March 31, 2025.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said that India's financial sector remained resilient in 2025-26, supported by healthy bank and non-bank balance sheets, improved asset quality and strong capital buffers. The central bank affirmed confidence in India's banking sector, indicating that it remains healthy, with gross bad loans at multi-decadal lows and stress tests showing banks can withstand severe shocks without breaching capital norms."Stress test results reaffirmed the resilience of banks, indicating their ability to withstand losses under adverse scenarios while maintaining capital buffers well above the regulatory minimum," the central bank said in its Annual Report. RBI further highlighted that the financial sector remained resilient on the back of healthy bank and non-bank balance sheets, improved asset quality and capital buffers, enabling double-digit credit growth.Also read: India steers boat through a risky channel between war clouds and El NinoRBI noted that bank credit growth gained momentum across sectors and outpaced deposit growth during the year, leading to a rise in the credit-deposit ratio. The transmission of policy repo rate changes to banks’ deposit and lending rates also remained robust amid conducive liquidity conditions.Bank credit to the commercial sector grew 15.9% year-on-year in 2025-26, up from 10.9% a year ago, while credit from non-bank sources expanded 13.3%, underscoring the continued strength of financial intermediation in the economy, the report said.RBI noted that profitability of scheduled commercial banks remained robust alongside improvement in asset quality. The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio declined to a multi-decadal low, while the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) remained comfortably above regulatory requirements.The report added that asset quality and capital adequacy of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) remained strong during the year. Urban co-operative banks also witnessed improved credit and deposit growth along with robust capital buffers and higher profitability.The central bank further said the share of external benchmark-based lending rate (EBLR)-linked loans increased during the year, aiding faster monetary policy transmission, while the proportion of marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR)-linked loans continued to decline.RBI on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)The RBI indicated that it expanded its experimentation with Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) during 2025-26 by launching multiple pilots linked to direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes of the Centre and state governments.In its Annual Report, the central bank said programmable CBDC was used to deliver food subsidies under the public distribution system (PDS) in Gujarat, Puducherry and Chandigarh. Beneficiaries were credited subsidies through CBDC wallets that could be redeemed only for eligible commodities at fair price shops and designated merchants.The RBI said the pilots leveraged the programmability feature of CBDCs, allowing targeted use of funds and improving efficiency in subsidy delivery.The central bank also advanced efforts in tokenisation of financial assets through the development of the Unified Markets Interface (UMI), a multi-layer platform aimed at improving settlement efficiency using wholesale CBDC.“A pilot on tokenisation of certificates of deposit (CDs) was initiated on UMI,” the report said.On cross-border payments, RBI said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for collaboration on digital assets and held bilateral discussions with MAS and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) to operationalise a cross-border CBDC pilot.The RBI also joined multilateral initiatives led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, including Project Rialto and Phase 2 of Project Mandala, focused on improving cross-border payments using CBDCs.The report comes as central banks globally continue to explore digital currency infrastructure to improve payment efficiency, lower transaction costs and strengthen cross-border settlement systems.The research by the U.S.-based Atlantic Council think tank revealed that 146 countries & currency unions, representing over 98% of global GDP, are exploring a CBDC. There is a new high of 77 countries in the advanced phase of exploration, which includes development, pilot, or launch.
New Delhi: The Centre is exploring ways to revive the stalled privatisation of IDBI Bank, people familiar with the matter told ET. The choices include examining whether earlier rejected bids, from Prem Watsa-led Fairfax Financial Holdings and Emirates NBD, for their failure to hurdle the reserve price threshold could still be considered, they said.The bids remain ‘alive’ and the government is examining legal provisions under the tendering framework that allows for bids to be accepted even if offers are below the reserve price, said the people cited above.The reserve price remains undisclosed. A call is expected to be taken soon as the government looks at ways to bolster its non-tax revenues. A senior government official said that all options are on the table, as the process for selling its stake in IDBI Bank was never "scrapped" even after the financial bids were found to be below the reserve price. "Multiple options are being examined including how to complete the transaction in the ongoing round,” an official said. The government fixed the reserve price after bids were submitted by interested parties but before they were opened.Also Read: Listed banks earned a record profit of ₹4 lakh crore in FY26The reserve price remains confidential and has not been disclosed to bidders. The Centre may also seek guidance from, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, given the valuation concerns considering a very limited free public float, currently at 5.29%. 131377481Low Public Float"All these aspects are being examined," said another official. In February 2026, Arunish Chawla, secretary, Department of Investment and Public Affairs, or DIPAM, had said in a post on X that financial bids had been received for the strategic disinvestment of the IDBI Bank."They will be evaluated as per the prescribed procedure," he stated. But the stake sale process came to a halt in March after the bids received were found to be below the reserve price. IDBI's share price then crashed from a 52- week high of Rs 118.45 to a 52-week low on March 30 at Rs 61.05 at the Bombay Stock Exchange, or BSE.Also Read: Mid-tier entities in Indian BFSI under-invested in security, most exposed to cyberattacksThe stock gained some momentum in April and is currently trading at Rs 73.49 on the BSE. The government aims to sell its 30.48% stake and Life Insurance Corporation of India's 30.24% stake in the bank. At the current market price, it will be able to raise around Rs 24,000 crore. The government has budgeted Rs 80,000 crore from asset monetisation in this fiscal.As per the process, the successful bidder will have to go through a final assessment by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure that it meets the regulator’s ‘fit & proper’ standards. In addition, approvals will be needed from statutory and regulatory authorities, including the Competition Commission of India. The successful bidder will also have to comply with the requirement to make an open offer to minority shareholders of IDBI Bank.