Vijay Mallya, the Indian tycoon fighting multiple cases in the U.K. after defaulting on bank loans, was declared a "fugitive economic offender" by a special Mumbai court under a new law, television channels reported. Mallya is the first to be declared a fugitive under the new law, which gives authorities greater powers to seize and confiscate assets of economic offenders, according to CNN-News18 and India Today TV, Bloomberg News reported. The ruling comes on the back of Mallya losing a bid last month to avoid extradition to India from the U.K., where he is currently based.

India needs to resume subsidies on imported natural gas to help revive power plants that have been stranded for want of fuel and could turn into bad assets for banks, according to a lawmakers’ report, Bloomberg News reported. The federal government should supply the gas at lower than market rates by utilizing funds from the so-called Power System Development Fund or from the environment tax on coal, the Standing Committee on Energy said in its report on Friday. Imported gas for the plants was subsidized for two years through March 2017.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Thursday asked the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal to expeditiously decide on the Essar Steel insolvency case, where ArcelorMittal emerged as the highest bidder, BloombergQuint reported. Essar Steel lenders led by the State Bank of India had filed an application with the tribunal seeking early approval of the resolution plan. The case has been running for about 500 days as against a maximum of 270 days allowed for a resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Asia is finally succumbing to the global property slowdown that’s jolted homeowners and investors from Vancouver to London, with markets in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia showing fresh signs of softening, Bloomberg News reported. The economic ramifications could be serious. Lower house prices and higher mortgage rates will not only dent consumer confidence, but also disposable incomes, S&P Global Ratings said in a report last month. A simultaneous decline in house prices globally could lead to “financial and macroeconomic instability,” the IMF said in study released in April.

Turkey’s currency has sustained a fresh blow in a grim 2019 debut marked by rising concerns over the global economy and angst that improving inflation data could prompt the central bank to prematurely reduce interest rates, the Financial Times reported. The lira has tumbled 4 per cent against the US dollar over the past two trading days, according to Refinitiv data. Thursday’s drop left it at TL5.5 to the buck, having closed last year at TL5.2877. It has not faced such a sharp two-day decline since the wake of the currency crisis in August 2018.

For years, no matter what was happening elsewhere, global companies bet billions upon billions of dollars that China’s consumers would keep spending money. Now, just when the world economy could use their financial firepower, they are holding back, worried about the country’s slowing growth, a trade war with the United States and rising amounts of personal debt, the International New York Times reported. Zhao Zheng, 26, is among the cost-conscious consumers. On Thursday, Mr.

Japanese shares slumped at the open on Friday as markets in Japan came back online after a holiday during which a profit warning from Apple sparked a global equities sell-off and fuelled concerns over slowing Chinese growth, the Financial Times reported. The Topix, in its first day of trading for the year, fell as much as 3.2 per cent in early trading with resources stocks down 4 per cent and the technology segment off 3.5 per cent.

Another Chinese peer-to-peer lender told investors on Wednesday it wouldn’t be able to pay them back, highlighting risks to the nation’s broader financial system as rising defaults and tougher regulations hit the $176 billion industry, Bloomberg News reported. Hangzhou-based Xinhehui told investors at a meeting that it won’t be able to make repayments on a total of 2.26 billion yuan ($330 million) of products issued to them, according to attendees and videos seen by Bloomberg News. More than 17,000 individual investors are affected.

All Jet Airways India Ltd. ever needed was 1 rupee, or just 1.4 U.S. cents, for providing hot meals and cold towels. Since even that modest goal has proven elusive, India’s longest-surviving private airline now needs bankers with spine to keep flying. It’s been clear for some time that Jet, falling behind even on pilots’ wages, was going to skip a debt payment soon. Now that a default on bank loans has finally happened, let’s spend a minute on the brutal economics of the missing rupee, a Bloomberg View reported.

Jet Airways India Ltd. has missed a payment to Indian lenders in the latest sign of mounting strains at the country’s second largest airline by passengers, after losses worsened a cash crunch, Bloomberg News reported. The setback underscores a lack of progress lining up sufficient funds for debt payments after the beleaguered carrier approached banks for a moratorium on loans and asked for fresh funds in October. Shares in Jet Airways closed down 6.1 percent, the sharpest decline in more than three weeks.