Apple has an insignificant share of the India’s booming smartphone market, thanks to its high prices and hefty import tariffs — but that could all change now. After India eased rules on Wednesday that forced companies to source 30% of their production locally, Apple is poised to start online sales of its devices within month’s in the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market, a person familiar with the matter said. With escalating trade tensions damaging ties between the U.S. and China, New Delhi’s latest investment rules could provide a boost to Apple, allowing it to grow sales in the country and possibly help it reduce its high dependency on China by building out an alternative supply chain in India.

The European Commission is conducting a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google’s job search tool “Google for Jobs.” In a speech Tuesday, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager drew parallels between Google for Jobs and the company’s comparison shopping service, which was the subject of a $2.7 billion antitrust fine in 2017.

Hong Kong’s summer of unrest has increased the stakes for investors there by pushing economy toward a recession, and doubt is circling about the city’s future as a finance hub. With one of the world’s most open economies, Hong Kong has bank assets equal to about 8.5 times of its GDP and offshore traders account for about 40% of volume on the city’s stock market, so the withdrawal of deposits and investors would hit hard.

U.S. President Donald Trump will announce a plan to boost demand for biofuels within weeks, his secretary of agriculture said on Wednesday, as the administration seeks to assuage farmers angered by its expanded use of oil refinery waivers.

Sygnum, one of the first crypto companies to obtain a conditional banking and securities dealer license from Swiss regulators, plans to apply for a banking licence in Singapore. It has started talking with regulators and petitioned for a capital markets services licence, which will allow the firm to offer asset-management business as a first step into financial services, co-founders Mathias Imbach and Gerald Goh said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Hyflux on Wednesday night clarified that a definitive agreement had not been entered into with Utico, pending resolution on "certain final outstanding issues" in the draft definitive agreements.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR