U.S, President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that plans to impose a 5% tax on all remittances sent by non-citizens, has created a lot of controversy and sparked anxiety among the Indian disapora in the U.S. Millions of Indians working, studying, or living legally in the U.S., from H-1B professionals to students to green card holders—would be forced to pay a cut.
Analysts warn this move could disrupt family support systems and financial flows between India and the United States. A 10–15% drop in remittance flows could mean a $12–18 billion shortfall for India every year.
Staying with news from the U.S, credit rating agency Moody’s has cut the United States’ long-held AAA rating to Aa1, the second-highest grade. While Aa1 still indicates strong creditworthiness, it reflects growing concerns over America’s ballooning government debt and surging interest payments — now significantly worse than in most other top-rated economies. In response, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the move as a “lagging indicator,” blaming the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, Moody’s also had its eye on India. The ratings agency said that India is among the best-positioned economies to weather the impact of U.S. tariffs and potential trade disruptions. Even after revising India’s 2025 growth forecast slightly downward to 6.3%, Moody’s still expects India to outpace all other G-20 economies next year.
News from the world of crypto - Bitcoin smashed records this week, surging to an all-time high of $111,778.7 on May 22nd. The rally was driven by renewed optimism after bipartisan support emerged for U.S. legislation on stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to the dollar. While Bitcoin isn’t a stablecoin, it’s benefiting from the broader sentiment that regulatory clarity could be a major boost for the crypto sector.
Back home, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail has demerged its lifestyle business into a separate entity. Post demerger, Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands will house brands four major liefstyle brands, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England along with Forever 21, American Eagle and Reebok. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail will retain Pantaloons, TCNS Business, Sabyasachi, Tasva, and Masaba among others. The demerger ratio has been set at 1:1.
And finally, a quick look at the Indian markets, its been a rollercoaster ride for investors. Despite the ups and downs over the five trading sessions, the both the Sensex and Nifty declined by around half a percent for the week.
That’s all the time we have on the Hook Business News Wrap.
Log on to Hook.Online for our deep-dive on the U.S. credit rating downgrade report, and why India is paying close attention.
