The coronavirus pandemic will bankrupt most airlines worldwide by the end of May unless governments and the industry take coordinated steps to avoid such a situation, an aviation consultant warned, Bloomberg News reported. Many airlines have probably been driven into technical bankruptcy or substantially breached debt covenants already, Sydney-based consultancy CAPA Centre for Aviation warned in a statement Monday. Carriers are depleting cash reserves quickly because their planes are grounded and those that aren’t are flying more than half empty, it said.

South Korean structured notes, favored by local retail investors, could face massive losses after European banking shares plunged more than 40% in the past month, Bloomberg News reported. At least four Korean products linked to the Euro Stoxx Banks Index are likely to record losses of more than 50% if the underlying gauge stays at around the current level until their maturity, according to terms compiled by Bloomberg. The gauge has fallen 45% since a mid-February high on disappointment over European Central Bank stimulus measures. Korea Investment & Securities Co.

Vodafone's Indian joint venture was thrown a potential lifeline on Monday after the government proposed that telecoms groups should be given a period of 20 years to pay about $13bn in retrospective levies and penalties, the Financial Times reported. The application submitted to the Supreme Court comes after it ruled in October that telecoms companies must pay the historic fees within months, in a judgment that threatened the survival of Vodafone Idea and hit foreign investor confidence. It is unclear if the Supreme Court will accept the application when it next meets.

China’s industrial output contracted at the sharpest pace in 30 years in the first two months of the year as the fast spreading coronavirus and strict containment measures severely disrupted the world’s second-largest economy, data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. Urban investment and retail sales also fell sharply and for the first time on record, reinforcing views that the epidemic may have cut China’s economic growth in half in the first quarter.

An investigation into Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd., initiated by its board after the death of founder V.G. Siddhartha, is likely to conclude that at least 20 billion rupees ($270 million) is missing from its accounts, according to people familiar with the matter. The months-long probe following the suicide of Siddhartha in July examined the financial transactions of India’s largest coffee chain and its dealings with dozens of private companies owned by the entrepreneur, Bloomberg News reported.

With the Rajya Sabha giving its nod, Parliament today passed amendments to the insolvency law that will help ring-fence successful bidders of insolvent companies from risk of criminal proceedings for offences committed by previous promoters, The Tribune reported. The Rajya Sabha passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2020, by a voice vote today, after it was approved by the Lok Sabha on March 6. The Bill will now replace an ordinance after it gets a presidential stamp.

Chinese PV manufacturer Yingli Solar has broken cover after five months of silence to admit it is undergoing a debt restructuring proposal, pv magazine reported. The Baoding-based company issued a statement yesterday on the English-language investors’ section of its website which said its debt restructuring plan had been approved by its creditors and interested “governments” and “the court”. The statement went on to add the business would “cooperate with the court and administrator in accordance with the law to ensure the normal operation of the company”.

Indian authorities’ takeover of one of the country’s largest private banks could wipe out more than $1bn in high-risk bonds, dealing a blow to the mutual funds that piled into the market and leaving other lenders struggling to raise money, the Financial Times reported. The Reserve Bank of India last week took over Yes Bank, a once high-flying private lender that experienced a sharp rise in bad loans, after the bank struggled to find investors to shore up its capital base.

India’s cash-strapped tycoons may need to ready more yard sales of their crown jewels as stock volatility and ongoing credit market uncertainty pressure their ability to pay loans. At issue is the loans that Indian business leaders often take against the backing of their main assets - stakes in their listed firms, Bloomberg News reported. The value of such pledged shares has shrunk as the coronavirus outbreak triggered a sell-off globally in risk assets and domestic credit troubles deepened, as evidenced by last week’s seizure of Yes Bank Ltd. by the central bank.

Seoul-based labor lawyer Lee Seung-yeon’s phone has been ringing almost nonstop since the coronavirus hit South Korea, Bloomberg News reported. One of the calls is from an owner of a restaurant in tourist spot Myeongdong. The restaurateur is thinking of closing his business after revenue dwindled to 200,000 won ($168) a day. Others phone about trouble paying salaries or about getting government assistance. “The situation is really serious,” says Lee.