Business
Five signs your business has outgrown off-the-shelf software
When standard solutions start holding you back, it might be time to think about something built for your business.
Most UK businesses start with off-the-shelf software. Makes sense. Tools like Xero, Salesforce or Monday.com are affordable, quick to deploy, and cover the basics well. For early-stage companies focused on survival and growth, these ready-made solutions provide what you need without a big upfront investment.
But as your company grows and your processes get more sophisticated, you may notice these standard solutions becoming more hindrance than help. The software that once felt like a perfect fit starts to feel restrictive. Frustrations build. Work slows down.
Here are five warning signs that your business might be ready for bespoke software and what to do about each one.
Your team spends hours on manual workarounds
When staff resort to copying data between spreadsheets, keeping shadow systems in Excel, or doing repetitive tasks that feel like they should be automated, something is wrong. These workarounds creep in gradually; a quick fix here, a temporary solution there, until suddenly your operations depend on a patchwork of manual processes.
Workarounds rarely stay small. What begins as a simple spreadsheet to track information your CRM cannot handle eventually becomes a document that multiple team members depend on. Before long, you have unofficial systems running alongside your official ones. That creates risk.
One manufacturing client we spoke to had three staff spending two days each week manually reconciling data between their CRM, accounting system, and inventory management tool. The annual cost? Over £45,000 in wages alone. That’s before counting the errors that crept in, the delays in decision-making, or the frustration the team felt every week.
Manual processes often also end up kept in the minds of certain colleagues. When the person who understands how all the workarounds fit together goes on holiday or hands in their notice, the business faces real operational risk.
What to look for: Ask your team where they spend time on repetitive data entry or checking. If you hear phrases like “we have to do it this way because the system can’t” or “I keep my own spreadsheet for that”, you’ve found a workaround worth investigating.
You’re paying for features you don’t use
Enterprise software bundles hundreds of features into their pricing tiers. Sales teams show off impressive functionality during procurement. Six months later you realise your team only uses a fraction of what you bought. You’re subsidising functionality designed for completely different industries.
This isn’t just about money, though the costs add up. Research from Productiv found the average UK business wastes roughly 30% of its software spend on unused licences and features. For a company spending £50,000 a year on software subscriptions, that’s £15,000 going nowhere.
Those unused features also create clutter. Staff waste time clicking through menus and options that have nothing to do with their work. Training new employees gets complicated because they need to learn which parts of the system to use and which to ignore. The cognitive load slows everyone down.
There’s also an opportunity cost. Money spent on features you don’t need is money not spent on solutions that could actually change how you work.
What to look for: Review your software subscriptions and honestly assess feature usage. If you’re on an enterprise tier but only using basic functionality, or if new staff consistently struggle to learn your systems, feature bloat may be costing you more than you think.
Your processes have to fit the software, not the other way around
This is the most telling sign. When you find yourself changing how your business operates to accommodate software limitations, the tail is wagging the dog.
Every business has processes that give it an edge – how you handle customer enquiries, manage stock, or deliver services. These processes often evolve over years of learning what works best for your specific customers, suppliers, and market. They represent hard-won knowledge.
Off-the-shelf software is designed for the average business in your sector. It bakes in assumptions about how companies like yours typically operate. If your approach is what sets you apart from competitors, forcing it into a standard mould risks eroding the very thing that makes customers choose you.
A recruitment agency we know built its reputation on a distinctive candidate screening process. When they adopted a popular applicant tracking system, they had to abandon several steps that candidates consistently praised. Within a year, their placement success rate had dropped measurably. The software worked exactly as designed. It just wasn’t designed for their approach.
This cuts both ways. Sometimes adapting to software best practices improves your operations. The question is whether you’re making a conscious choice to adopt better processes, or simply surrendering to software limitations because you have no other option.
What to look for: Listen for phrases like “we used to do it differently but the system wouldn’t allow it” or “I know this seems inefficient but that’s how the software works”. Your tools should support your processes, not dictate them.
Integration has become a nightmare
Modern businesses rely on multiple software tools working together. The average SME now uses between 20 and 50 different applications. When your systems can’t talk to each other properly, you end up with data silos, duplicate entries, and a fragmented view of your operations.
Maybe your ecommerce platform doesn’t sync properly with your warehouse management system. Your CRM can’t pull data from your accounting software without someone doing it manually. Your project management tool doesn’t connect with your time tracking system, forcing staff to log hours in two places.
These headaches multiply as businesses grow. Each new application creates potential connection points with every existing system. What starts as a manageable set of integrations can quickly become an unwieldy web of data flows, many of which break whenever one vendor updates their software.
The real cost is often invisible. Decisions made on incomplete information. Customer service hampered by lack of data access. Management flying blind because no single system shows the full picture.
Some businesses try to solve this with integration platforms like Zapier or Make. These work well for simple connections but struggle with complex business logic. They can also become a maintenance burden, with automations breaking silently and causing data problems that take hours to untangle.
What to look for: Map out how data flows between your systems. If you rely on manual exports, scheduled batch updates, or integration tools with dozens of conditional rules, your systems may have outgrown their ability to work together.
Your software vendor’s roadmap doesn’t match yours
Software companies prioritise features based on what benefits their largest customer segments. If your business has specific requirements outside the mainstream, you may wait years for functionality that never arrives. Worse, you might watch features you depend on get removed.
This dependency creates strategic risk. When your plans hinge on whether a third-party vendor decides to build a particular feature, you’ve lost control of something important. You’re essentially outsourcing part of your product roadmap to a company with entirely different priorities.
The challenge gets sharper as your business becomes more sophisticated. Early-stage companies need generic functionality – invoicing, customer management, basic reporting. Standard software handles this fine. But as you develop your own processes, enter niche markets, or pursue differentiation strategies, your requirements diverge from the mainstream.
Vendor lock-in makes it worse. Once your data and processes are embedded in a platform, switching costs become substantial. You may find yourself stuck with software that no longer serves you well, but which you can’t easily leave.
What to look for: Review your feature request history with key vendors. If you’ve been asking for the same functionality for years without progress, or if recent updates have moved the product away from your needs, the fit between your business and your software may be weakening.
What are the alternatives?
Seeing these signs doesn’t mean you need to replace everything tomorrow. Wholesale system replacement is expensive, disruptive, and often unnecessary. Many businesses do better with a hybrid approach – keeping off-the-shelf tools for commodity functions like email or basic accounting, while investing in bespoke software development for the processes that truly set their business apart.
The UK bespoke software market has changed a lot in recent years. Fixed-price quotes, transparent development processes, and specialist firms focused on SMEs have made custom software accessible to businesses that would never have considered it a decade ago. Projects that once needed enterprise budgets can now be delivered at realistic prices for growing companies.
The key is working out where standard software genuinely serves you well, and where it’s quietly costing you money, time, or competitive advantage. Not every process needs custom software. But the processes that define your business – that create value for customers and set you apart from competitors – often benefit from purpose-built tools.
A sensible approach might involve:
- Auditing your current software to identify which tools deliver value and which create friction
- Adding up the cost of workarounds including staff time, error rates, and delayed decisions
- Prioritising pain points based on business impact rather than technical complexity
- Starting small with a focused project that addresses your most pressing issue
Making the business case
If you’re thinking about bespoke software, you’ll likely need to justify the investment to stakeholders. The good news is that the business case often writes itself once you add up the hidden costs of your current setup.
Start by documenting the workarounds your team performs daily. Calculate time spent on manual data entry or reconciliation. Note the features you wish existed but can’t find. Estimate revenue lost to slow processes or poor customer experiences. This audit often shows that the true cost of sticking with ill-fitting solutions far exceeds the investment needed for something better.
Think about the strategic value too. Software built around your processes protects and strengthens what makes your business distinctive. It can become a competitive advantage – something rivals can’t simply buy from the same vendor you use.
Choosing the right partner
If several of these signs ring true for your business, it’s worth talking to a specialist UK software company. A good one will help you work out whether bespoke software makes commercial sense and be honest when it doesn’t.
Look for partners who take time to understand your business before proposing solutions. Be wary of those who jump straight to technical specifications without grasping the commercial context. The best development relationships feel collaborative, with technical expertise applied in service of business outcomes.
Ask about their experience with businesses your size and in your sector. Request references and speak to previous clients. Understand how they handle changes in requirements, because they will come up. Clarify pricing structures upfront – surprises in software development tend to be expensive.
The decision to invest in bespoke software is a big one. But for businesses showing these warning signs, it can unlock operational improvements that standard solutions simply can’t deliver.
Business
AGPU Stock Doubles on April 1 as Axe Compute Lands $12M GPU Deals Fueling AI Infrastructure Push
Shares of Axe Compute Inc. more than doubled Wednesday, surging as much as 102% to trade around $3.32 midday after the company announced $12 million in newly executed agreements expected to generate roughly $835,000 in monthly recurring revenue as it ramps up its enterprise GPU infrastructure business.

The explosive move came on the heels of the company’s fiscal 2025 earnings release late Tuesday and a morning conference call discussing its full pivot from legacy drug discovery operations to AI compute services. Volume spiked dramatically, with tens of millions of shares changing hands in the first hours of trading as retail investors piled into the micro-cap name amid broader enthusiasm for AI-related infrastructure plays.
Axe Compute, which rebranded from Predictive Oncology Inc. in December 2025 and began trading under the ticker AGPU, reported signing contracts with more than 20 enterprise customers over the past 30 days. The deals, focused on reserved GPU capacity for production AI workloads, are projected to deliver approximately $7.5 million in estimated 2026 revenue at the current run rate once deployments begin entering the second quarter.
“This $12 million book we’ve built entering Q2 is not a marketing milestone — it is executed agreements from enterprises with production AI workloads,” CEO Christopher Miglino said in a statement. The company highlighted its Strategic Compute Reserve, which provides access to over 435,000 GPUs globally through partnerships including the Aethir network, enabling rapid 24- to 48-hour deployments across more than 200 locations without vendor lock-in.
Financial Results Reflect Transition Costs
For the full year 2025, Axe Compute posted revenue of just $125,284 — all from its legacy drug discovery services segment — with no meaningful compute revenue yet recognized. The company reported a massive net loss of $232.9 million to $233.1 million, driven largely by $152.5 million in unrealized losses on its ATH digital asset holdings and $52.7 million in derivative instrument losses, plus elevated operating expenses tied to the strategic repositioning.
Despite the headline loss, executives pointed to significant balance sheet progress. Through PIPE transactions closed in October 2025, the company raised approximately $343.5 million in a mix of cash and in-kind ATH token contributions. This infusion, combined with other actions including a reverse stock split, restored Nasdaq compliance and rebuilt stockholders’ equity to $47.7 million from a prior deficit. Cash stood at $10.8 million at year-end, with additional unlocked ATH tokens valued at $24.4 million.
Miglino, who joined as CEO in February 2026, framed 2025 as a foundational year. “In less than 90 days, we raised $343.5 million in capital, established a Strategic Compute Reserve through a digital asset treasury position in the ATH AI token, and reconstituted our balance sheet,” he noted on the earnings call.
Strategic Pivot to Decentralized AI Compute
Axe Compute is positioning itself as a flexible provider of GPU-as-a-Service for enterprises and developers seeking scalable, cost-efficient AI infrastructure. By leveraging decentralized networks like Aethir, the company aims to offer choice in hardware mixes while avoiding the lock-in common with major cloud providers.
Key elements of the strategy include:
- Strategic Compute Reserve: A GPU capacity platform launched in September 2025 that allows quick deployment for AI, machine learning, gaming and rendering workloads.
- ATH Treasury Model: Holding and potentially staking the Aethir token to generate yield, creating a revenue-backed infrastructure approach.
- Enterprise Focus: Prepayment-based contracts with diverse customers, currently boasting 30-plus active deployments.
The company also continues exploring strategic alternatives for its Helomics drug discovery and biobank business, including potential sale, partnership or licensing, to sharpen focus on the higher-growth AI compute opportunity.
In March 2026, Axe Compute bolstered its board with technology and telecom veterans Dr. Theodore Zhu and Thorsten Dirks, adding expertise in semiconductors, neural networks, international operations and corporate transformation.
Market Reaction and Investor Sentiment
The more-than-doubling of the stock on April 1 reflected investor excitement over tangible contract momentum in a red-hot AI sector, even as the company remains pre-revenue in its core new business. Trading forums and social platforms saw heightened discussion, with some users highlighting the contracts’ size relative to the company’s prior market capitalization.
Analysts and observers cautioned that execution risks remain high. The company faces challenges typical of micro-cap pivots: delivering on deployments, managing digital asset volatility, scaling operations and navigating competition from established cloud giants and other decentralized compute players.
Still, the forward guidance — including expectations of initial compute services revenue in 2026 and potential EPS of around 45 cents in some projections — offered a narrative of inflection. The stock has traded in a wide range historically, with a 52-week span reflecting earlier volatility tied to the rebranding and capital raises.
Broader AI Infrastructure Context
Axe Compute enters a booming market for GPU capacity driven by exploding demand for training and inference in generative AI. Enterprises increasingly seek alternatives to hyperscaler dominance, creating openings for agile providers offering flexible, geographically distributed resources.
The integration of digital asset treasury strategies adds a novel layer, potentially allowing the company to generate yield on holdings while funding infrastructure expansion. However, it also introduces crypto-related volatility, as evidenced by the large non-cash losses tied to ATH price movements in 2025.
Industry watchers note that success will hinge on rapid deployment, customer retention and demonstrating differentiated value through speed, cost and choice. Partnerships like Aethir provide immediate scale, but long-term differentiation will require strong execution on service quality and innovation.
Outlook and Priorities for 2026
Management outlined clear 2026 priorities:
- Deploy reserved GPU capacity and generate initial compute services revenue.
- Pursue staking and yield opportunities on the ATH treasury position.
- Complete the strategic review of the legacy Helomics business.
- Selectively add to the digital asset treasury via open-market purchases when conditions allow.
The April 1 announcement of signed contracts marks an early validation of the model, with management expressing confidence that the pipeline will expand as deployments ramp and word spreads among AI workload owners.
For investors, the name carries substantial risk given its small size, history of losses, reliance on digital assets and pre-profit stage in the new segment. Those following the story will watch upcoming quarterly updates for evidence of deployment progress, revenue recognition and margin trends.
Axe Compute, headquartered in Pittsburgh with roots in earlier medical and oncology-focused operations, now bets its future on powering the AI economy. Wednesday’s surge provided a dramatic spotlight on its ambitions, but sustained gains will depend on converting contracts into reliable cash flows amid fierce competition.
As midday trading continued, the stock showed typical volatility for a low-float, high-momentum session. Longer-term performance will be determined by the company’s ability to scale its GPU platform while prudently managing its evolving balance sheet.
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Outage Hits Mobile Banking Amid Peak Morning Rush
Hundreds of Chime users reported issues with the popular mobile banking app Wednesday morning, with complaints of login failures, frozen screens and inaccessible account balances disrupting daily transactions for the fintech giant’s millions of customers.

As of early Thursday, April 2, 2026, user reports on outage tracking sites like Downdetector showed elevated complaints focused primarily on the Chime app, with secondary issues involving funds transfers and mobile banking features. While Chime’s official status page listed all core services — including card purchases, phone support and account access — as operational, scattered user posts on social media and forums suggested intermittent problems affecting a subset of members.
Chime, a San Francisco-based challenger bank known for its fee-free checking and savings accounts, early direct deposit and SpotMe overdraft protection, has grown rapidly by targeting younger and underserved consumers. The company does not operate traditional branches and relies heavily on its mobile app and website for nearly all customer interactions.
“Many members are experiencing temporary difficulties accessing the app or completing certain transactions,” one user reported on social platforms early Thursday. Similar complaints described error messages, loading spinners that never resolved and an inability to view recent activity or make payments.
Downdetector data indicated that app-related issues accounted for the majority of recent reports, consistent with patterns seen in prior minor disruptions. Chime’s status page showed no active incidents as of late Wednesday, with the most recent resolved event dating back to late March when card controls were temporarily unavailable for some users.
What Users Are Reporting
Affected customers described a range of symptoms:
- Inability to log in or repeated authentication failures.
- App crashing or freezing on the splash screen.
- Balances and transaction history not loading.
- Failed attempts to send money via Pay Anyone or initiate transfers.
- Issues with mobile check deposit and card controls.
Some users noted that the web version of Chime at chime.com remained accessible in certain cases, offering a potential workaround. Others reported success after force-quitting the app, clearing cache, restarting their phones or toggling between Wi-Fi and mobile data.
“Chime app is down again — can’t even see my balance to pay rent,” one frustrated Bay Area user posted. Similar messages appeared across Reddit’s r/chimefinancial, Facebook groups and X, though the volume remained far below levels that would indicate a widespread, multi-hour outage.
Chime has not issued a public statement acknowledging a current incident. Its status page continued to display green across all monitored components, including card purchases, transfers and support channels.
Chime’s History With Service Disruptions
This is not the first time Chime users have faced access issues. The company has experienced several notable outages in recent years, often tied to third-party processors or cloud service providers. In October 2025, a widespread Amazon Web Services disruption affected Chime and other platforms, leading to delayed direct deposits and temporary unavailability of balances and transfers. Chime resolved that incident within hours and communicated updates via its status page and social channels.
A 2019 outage linked to a payment processor left millions unable to use debit cards or access cash for nearly two days, prompting a class-action settlement worth $1.5 million. Chime later improved its infrastructure and redundancy measures, but the reliance on digital-only delivery means even brief glitches can frustrate users who depend on the app for daily finances.
Unlike traditional banks, Chime partners with established banks such as The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank for FDIC-insured deposits. Customer funds remain safe and accessible once systems stabilize, the company has emphasized in past incidents. No reports indicated lost or compromised funds in the current situation.
Workarounds and Troubleshooting Tips
For users facing issues Thursday, Chime and community members suggest several steps:
- Force close and restart the app: Swipe away the app completely and relaunch it.
- Clear cache and data: On Android, go to Settings > Apps > Chime > Storage. iOS users can offload the app or reinstall.
- Update the app: Ensure you have the latest version from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
- Try the website: Log in at chime.com using a browser for basic account viewing and some transactions.
- Contact support: Use the in-app help if accessible or call 1-844-244-6363. Response times may be longer during elevated call volume.
- Check internet connection: Switch networks or use mobile data if on Wi-Fi.
Chime’s customer support remains operational according to its status page. Members with urgent needs, such as pending bills or direct deposits, are advised to monitor their accounts closely once access resumes.
Broader Implications for Fintech Reliability
Chime serves millions of Americans who value its no-fee structure and early paycheck access. The company has positioned itself as a modern alternative to big banks, but repeated service hiccups highlight the challenges of operating at scale in a fully digital environment.
Industry analysts note that fintech outages often spike during high-traffic periods — early mornings when users check balances before work, or around direct deposit days. With many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, even short disruptions can create real stress for rent, groceries or bill payments.
Chime has invested in infrastructure improvements, including better monitoring and redundancy. However, as a non-traditional bank without physical locations, it faces heightened expectations for 24/7 digital reliability.
Users affected by the latest reports expressed a mix of annoyance and resignation. “This happens too often with Chime,” one commenter wrote. Others defended the service, citing its overall convenience and lack of overdraft or monthly fees.
What to Expect Moving Forward
As of Thursday morning, there was no indication of a prolonged or major outage. Most monitoring sites showed normal or only slightly elevated report volumes compared to baseline. Chime typically resolves minor app glitches quickly, often within minutes to a couple of hours.
Customers should continue checking the official status page at status.chime.com for real-time updates. The company also posts notices on its @Chime social media accounts during significant events.
For those relying on Chime for time-sensitive transactions, alternatives include using linked debit cards at ATMs or merchants (if card controls function), initiating transfers via the website or contacting recipients to explain potential delays.
Chime has grown into one of the largest U.S. fintech players by focusing on simplicity and accessibility. While occasional technical hiccups are common in the sector, the company’s rapid response in past incidents has helped maintain customer loyalty for many.
Members experiencing ongoing problems are encouraged to document issues with screenshots and reach out to support. In rare cases of financial hardship directly caused by an outage, Chime has occasionally offered goodwill gestures, though no such program has been announced for the current situation.
As the morning progressed Thursday, reports appeared to taper off, suggesting any intermittent issues were resolving naturally or through user-side fixes. Chime users in the Bay Area and across the country can expect normal service to resume fully soon, but staying informed via official channels remains the best approach.
For the latest updates, visit status.chime.com or monitor Downdetector. Safe banking, and remember that all deposits at Chime are FDIC-insured through its partner banks up to applicable limits.
Business
turnaround drags, China sales slump
Nike Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
When Nike reported fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday night, investors were looking for evidence its recovery is on track.
Instead, all they learned is the retailer’s turnaround is far from over, sending shares tumbling more than 14% in mid-day trading Wednesday.
During a call with analysts, finance chief Matt Friend warned sales would slide by a low single digit percentage through the end of this calendar year, as a decline in China is expected to offset growing strength in North America.
The company anticipates sales will fall between 2% and 4% in the current quarter, worse than the 1.9% growth analysts had expected, while it expects China sales will plunge 20% – even with a two point benefit from foreign exchange rates. Efforts to clean up Nike’s assortment in China and drive full price sales are expected to continue – and remain a drag on revenue growth – through fiscal 2027, slated to end next spring.
It expects to begin lapping the period when it started to get hit by higher tariffs in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, slated for this summer, which could give it easier year-over-year profit comparisons. Executives expect gross margins could begin expanding by the end of the year during the retailer’s fiscal 2027 second quarter – if they do at all.
Nike’s gross margin has declined year over year for seven straight quarters, and it may be harder to boost the metric now because product input costs could rise due to the war in the Middle East.
“The environment around us has become increasingly dynamic, and we could experience unplanned volatility due to the disruption in the Middle East, rising oil prices, and other factors that could impact either input costs or consumer behavior,” said Friend. “We are focused on what we can control, and these assumptions reflect the macro environment as it stands today.”

The lagging turnaround, the persistent bad news and the number of business arms Nike needs to fix to stabilize the entire enterprise left investors soured. The few pockets of good news – better-than-expected sales in China, growing wholesale revenues, continued growth in North America – weren’t enough to boost the stock.
On Wednesday morning, three of Wall Street’s biggest banks, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Bank of America, all downgraded the stock, citing the dragging turnaround, growing headwinds and dwindling patience.
“We thought improved performance product innovation and lapping Win Now actions would result in a return to growth in 1Q27; instead, management has initiated guidance for sales to remain negative into 3Q27,” Bank of America analyst Lorraine Hutchinson said in a Wednesday note to clients. “Strong results in running and NA were the reasons for our patience but with the sales inflection now nine months away, we see little room for multiple expansion, leading to our downgrade.”
Throughout Nike’s call with analysts on Tuesday, Friend and CEO Elliott Hill kept predicting a return to sustained growth, but were once again vague about the timeline.
“We are increasingly confident we are on track to return to balanced growth in North America across both NIKE Direct and wholesale channels in the near term,” said Friend.
In his remarks, Hill said again that recovery is taking more time than he expected.
“This is complex work, and parts of it are taking longer than I’d like, but the direction is clear,” said Hill. “The urgency is real, and the foundation is getting stronger.”
Business
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Eli Lilly opposes Trump MFN drug pricing law, CEO Ricks says
David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, speaks in the Oval Office during an event about weight-loss drugs at the White House in Washington, DC on Nov. 6, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Eli Lilly opposes the White House’s push to codify “most favored nation” drug pricing into law, CEO Dave Ricks said in an interview with CNBC.
Lilly is one of more than a dozen drugmakers that signed deals with the Trump administration last year agreeing to charge similar prices for prescription drugs in the U.S. as other wealthy nations. President Donald Trump has long complained that Americans pay high prices to subsidize low prices for medicine in the rest of the world.
The pharmaceutical industry thought the agreements would pacify those concerns and thwart attempts to make “most favored nation” pricing law. But the White House in recent months has pushed Congress to codify elements of the deals. The draft text hasn’t been shared publicly, though the administration has said it’s trying to get pharmaceutical companies back the effort.

Lilly doesn’t support it, Ricks said.
“When you throw it into the congressional process, what goes in is not what’s going to come out,” Ricks said. “And I think we see a lot of people who would rather reduce prices today and not worry about whether we have any new medicines tomorrow, not worry about whether America will have a robust drug industry and we’ll be able to do research in this country. And I worry about those things, so I don’t think that’s a great idea, and we’ve been pretty clear with the administration and the congressional leaders about that.”
Ricks said he thinks the Trump administration and leadership on the Hill are listening to the company’s concerns, but he said Lilly will use “all the tools we have to combat bad policy, and we think it would be bad policy.”
Business
Japan to create special cell to push FDI into India
This Centre will assist Japanese companies to handle a variety of state-level regulations, a lack of transparency in the application of the law, and a complex tax system in India, according to persons familiar with the developments.
The new centre in the Japanese Foreign Ministry will also assist cooperation in sectors of artificial intelligence, startups and critical minerals, ET has learnt.
At the last annual Summit held in August 2025, New Delhi and Tokyo had set a goal of achieving 10 trillion yen ($62.6 billion) in private-sector investment in India over the next decade.
Japanese companies have been relatively slow in expanding into India. There were 1,434 Japanese companies here in 2024, notwithstanding the depth of political ties. In comparison as many as 6,000 Japanese companies operate in Thailand, and nearly 4,500 in Singapore, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Japanese FDI in India has increased in recent years but it remains small compared to Japan’s overall total outward FDI. Japanese outward FDI to India in 2022-23 and 2023-24 stood at USD 1.79 billion and USD 3.1 billion respectively, with USD 1.36 billion in 2024-25 (Up to December 2024), according to a note by the Indian Embassy in Japan. Cumulatively, from 2000 until December 2024, the investments to India have been around US$ 43.2 billion ranking Japan fifth among source countries for FDI. Japanese FDI into India has mainly been in automobile, electrical equipment, telecommunications, chemical, financial (insurance) and pharmaceutical sectors, according to the Embassy.
In 2024, over 60% of Japanese companies in India reported an increase in market share for their main products and services, among the highest in Southwest AsiaSurveys by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation show that Japanese manufacturers have viewed India as the most promising overseas location for four straight years. But the number of companies actually operating there has not grown, with many pointing to a business environment filled with issues difficult for businesses to address on their own, according to a report in Nikkei Asia published on Tuesday.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry is prioritizing economic cooperation with India for two main reasons. “First, India has the world’s largest population and maintains a high economic growth rate, meaning that it has significant potential as a market. Some forecasts suggest that India’s nominal gross domestic product could surpass Japan’s as early as 2026, making India the world’s fourth-largest economy, according to the Nikkei Asia report.
India’s strategic importance is Japan’s second reason for prioritizing cooperation. The two countries share core values, such as democracy and the rule of law and are part of Quad, the Nikkei Asia report mentioned.
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