Foreign investors were cautious to put money in Indian real estate during January-March amid the West Asia conflict, as their investments plunged 75 per cent to $400 million compared to the previous quarter, according to Colliers.

Real estate consultant Colliers India expects foreign investors to remain cautious through this year due to global economic uncertainties.

The consultant data showed that the total institutional investments in real estate fell drastically by 61 per cent to $1.6 billion in January-March from $4.2 billion in the preceding October-December quarter of 2025.

Out of this, domestic investors pumped in $1.2 billion while foreign players invested just 0.4 billion during the last quarter.

During October-December 2025, the inflow from domestic and foreign investors stood at $2.6 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.

In fact, he said, domestic real estate investments witnessed a strong surge and accounted for three-fourths of the $1.6 billion inflows in Q1 2026.

“While global investors are likely to remain cautious in the near-term on account of volatilities in trade, crude and commodities markets, this phase is expected to be transient in nature,” Yagnik said.

India’s favourable demographics, consumption-driven economy and investor appetite to expand into both core and alternative assets are likely to keep its unique positioning in the wider APAC region intact, he observed.

The consultant mentioned that the global investors may adopt a more measured, wait-and-watch approach in the near-term, potentially impacting inflows over the next few quarters.

However, Colliers added that domestic investors are likely to remain firm and may offset the potential impact to some extent.

Among asset classes, institutional investments in office properties fell sharply to $821.1 million in January-March from $3051.8 million in the preceding quarter.

Published on April 2, 2026

Oil rose more than 6% and Asian stocks fell after US President Donald Trump said in his first national address since the Iran war began that the US will continue to hit Iran very hard.

Trump also said in his Wednesday night speech that the United States will “finish the job” in Iran soon as “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” and military operations could wrap up soon.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong,” Trump said in his address.

Trump did not mention a looming deadline he set for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global oil and gas transport, after he threatened Iran earlier with US attacks on its energy infrastructure if the strait was not reopened. He did not offer a clear path to end the supply disruptions that have sent energy prices soaring.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 2.4% to 52,463.27 on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.5% to 5,234.05, also after government data showed consumer prices in March rose 2.2% from a year earlier on soaring fuel costs.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3% to 24,965.07, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.9% to 3,913.88.

Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 1.8% lower, while India’s Sensex lost 1.9%.

US futures were down more than 1.2%.

Oil prices were sharply higher following Trump’s remarks. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 6.9% to $108.15 per barrel. Benchmark US crude rose 6.4% to $106.55 a barrel.

“The market has shown disappointment because the speech President Trump made was far less than what the market expected,” said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex in Tokyo. “There were no concrete details about the end of the hostilities with Iran.” “What the market wants is a clear outline for the ceasefire,” he said.

Gold and silver prices fell. Gold’s price was down 4% to $4,621.30 per ounce, falling below the $4,700 mark. Silver lost 7.3% to $70.53 an ounce.

Renewed optimism on Wednesday for a possible end to the Iran war pushed world stocks higher, after Trump said late Tuesday the US military could end its offensive in two to three weeks.

Shares of Eli Lilly jumped 3.8% after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its GLP-1 pill for weight loss. Nike plunged 15.5% despite better-than-estimated quarterly profit on expectations of weaker sales.

In other dealings early Thursday, the US dollar rose to 159.35 Japanese yen from 158.82 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1534, down from $1.1589. (AP)

Published on April 2, 2026

India’s central bank has activated crisis-era measures to support the rupee, which has fallen to an all-time low as oil prices soared ​and foreign investors pulled money out at a record pace.

Amid the strain, the Reserve Bank of ‌India (RBI) has stepped in to curb speculative activity via arbitrage trades.

Here is ​what the central bank is trying to achieve through its measures.

What has the RBI done?

The RBI has announced two rounds of measures to support the rupee.

Last Friday, the RBI capped the net open rupee position of banks at $100 million compared with its earlier rule where positions equivalent ‌to 25 per cent of capital were permitted. A few days later, on Wednesday, it said banks can’t offer rupee non-deliverable forwards to resident and non-resident clients.

What are the reasons behind the move?

The RBI’s moves followed a near 4% depreciation ‌in ⁠the rupee in March, over and above an about 4% depreciation in the ⁠prior 12 months.

While some of the declines were due to weakening external fundamentals – foreign outflows and higher oil prices – a popular arbitrage trade had added to the pressure on the currency.

This so-called rupee basis trade involved profiting from differences ​between rupee forward rates onshore and ‌in the NDF market.

The trade itself is relatively straightforward. When NDFs imply a weaker rupee than onshore markets, traders can arbitrage the gap by selling dollars in the NDF market while buying dollars onshore.

This adds to dollar demand in an already strained local market and ‌accelerates the fall in the rupee. It also dulls the impact of FX ​market interventions by the central bank and puts more pressure on its forex reserves.

How large is the arbitrage trade?

Bankers estimate that across state-run, ⁠private and foreign lenders, banks had built up positions of about $30 billion to $40 billion with a significant chunk of the activity occurring since the Iran war broke out.

Do the rules amount to capital controls?

Not really. No additional restriction has been imposed on withdrawing capital from India.

What the steps do mean is that banks and corporates will only be able to hedge genuine underlying exposures/dollar requirements while making it significantly harder for both to put on large speculative wagers on the currency.

What does this mean for corporates and banks?

The moves could leave banks saddled with chunky losses as they rush to unwind arbitrage positions, an objective made ‌even costlier by the central bank’s decision to bar lenders from offering corporates NDF contracts.

The cost of cutting ​positions to RBI levels largely depends on the spread between the onshore market and the offshore NDF. A wider spread raises the cost of unwinding positions, ⁠and consequently, increases losses.

The move has also led to a sharp rise in hedging costs for overseas ⁠investors who typically rely on NDFs to hedge currency risk.

What does this mean for the rupee?

The rupee is expected to benefit from the measures as ‌the unwinding of arbitrage positions would spark a bout of heavy dollar sales in the onshore market.

The flip-side, though, is that the measures could create a disconnect between the ​onshore and NDF market while also denting the central bank’s previous efforts to integrate the two markets.

Published on April 2, 2026