India's 2017/18 annual budget is "fiscally prudent," as it maintains the government's fiscal consolidation efforts and would lead to stable economic growth if implemented correctly, a Moody's analyst said on Wednesday.

Indian shares rose 1.8 percent on Wednesday after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled a budget with a range of incentives for companies and geared towards boosting infrastructure and developing the rural economy.

India is to halve the basic rate of income tax to 5 percent, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced on Wednesday in his annual budget.

India is considering new measures to seize the assets of "big time offenders" who flee abroad, the finance minister said Wednesday, after tycoon Vijay Mallya left for Britain last year owing over $1 billion.

India plans to form a giant national oil company by combining other state-owned firms, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday, as New Delhi wants to expand its foreign presence to meet growing domestic fuel demand.

India stuck to a previously planned injection of $1.5 billion for state-owned banks in the coming financial year, disappointing hopes for a broader recapitalisation and fuelling concern that some may trim lending to keep afloat.

India's finance minister pledged to raise spending on the rural poor and halved the basic rate of income tax in his annual budget Wednesday, seeking to ease the pain of a shock move to ban high-value banknotes.

German car parts maker Bosch said Wednesday it will pay out some $327.5 million (303 million euros) in compensation to US buyers and dealers of Volkswagen-made diesel cars affected by the 'dieselgate' scandal.

Japan is hammering out plans to show US President Donald Trump its firms are ready to create US jobs, according to a document whose contents were revealed to Reuters, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares for a summit where automotive trade will be high on the agenda.

Italian banks have made little progress in reducing the mountain of bad debts which has curbed their ability to lend new money, fresh data showed on Tuesday.

India's natural rubber output in 2017/18 is likely to jump 15 percent to its highest in four years at 750,000 tonnes as a spike in benchmark prices prompts farmers to start tapping trees they had abandoned earlier, industry officials told Reuters.

Seeking to capitalize on US President Donald Trump's controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations Tuesday following a pair of recent acquisitions.

Vodafone has dialed for backup in its India fight. The UK-based telco is talking to Aditya Birla Group about an all-share merger of its Indian business with Idea Cellular, part-owned by the cement-to-retail group. It could feel the benefits beyond the subcontinent.

Swedish ready-to-wear giant Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) said Tuesday annual net profit dropped by 11 percent due to higher purchasing costs from the rising dollar.

The government plans to construct a transmission line from Payra to Patuakhali to start supplying power to a 1,320MW coal-based power plant in Payra deep seaport area by 2018.

German inflation is likely to have picked up further in January, surpassing the European Central Bank's official price stability target of just under 2 percent for the first time in more than four years, regional data suggested on Monday.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) does not expect oil demand to peak any time soon due to rising consumption in developing economies, Director Fatih Birol said on Monday.

India has surrendered its status as the world's top importer of coal back to China, with its overseas purchases in 2016 falling to less than 200 million tonnes.

Britain's Vodafone Group confirmed on Monday it was in talks to merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular in an all-share deal that would create a new market leader better able to contest a brutal new price war.