India’s second-oldest mutual fund has grown wary on non-banking financial companies after landmark defaults by IL&FS group fueled a cash crunch in the sector, Bloomberg News reported. Canara Robeco Asset Management is exercising caution on investments in short-term debt issued by NBFCs, as the fallout from Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. adds to strains caused by asset-liability mismatches. The company is a joint venture between Canara Bank and Netherlands-based asset manager Robeco.

China’s brokers and banks account for more than half the exposure to loans backed by company shares, a key source of risk as the country’s stock market keeps sliding, Bloomberg News reported. About 4.45 trillion yuan ($640 billion) of shares were pledged as collateral in China’s $5.4 trillion equity market as of Oct. 18, according to Chengdu-based research firm PY Standard. Banks and securities firms have extended more than half of that debt. If stock values continue falling, lenders may be forced to offload more shares, perpetuating a vicious spiral.

India’s tight money conditions and fears of a contagion following a debt crisis at a local lender dented demand and put a muzzle on animal spirits in the world’s fastest-growing major economy, Bloomberg News reported. Economic growth in the July-September quarter may have retreated from the 8 percent plus expansion in the three months ended June as consumption cooled, a slew of high-frequency data show.

ScS Group said on Thursday it would stop selling its sofas and carpets at House of Fraser stores from January, saying the partnership had ceased to be beneficial since billionaire Mike Ashley bought the collapsed department store group, Reuters reported. Sports Direct, the British sportswear retailer controlled by Ashley, snapped up House of Fraser and its 58 stores from administrators for 90 million pounds ($116 million) in August.

Essar Steel India Ltd said its board and shareholders have offered to pay 543.89 billion rupees ($7.42 billion) to creditors to settle their claims, allowing the company to exit from a bankruptcy process, Reuters reported. The steelmaker, owned by the billionaire Ruia brothers, is one of a group of companies that are among India’s biggest debt defaulters that were pushed into the bankruptcy court last year after a central bank order that was aimed at clearing record bad loans at the country’s banks.

South Korean has announced a fresh set of measures to boost economic growth and create jobs by offering financial support for smaller companies and a fuel tax cut to spur consumption. The latest measures come as the administration of President Moon Jae-in comes under growing pressure to revitalise a stalled economy and weak jobs market, the Financial Times reported.

The funding squeeze for China’s private enterprise is expected to persist, despite recent measures aimed at easing financing difficulties, adding further pressure on the beleaguered stock market, Bloomberg News reported. Non-state companies have borne the burden of the government’s two-year deleveraging campaign, as the closing down of funding channels boosted the cost of borrowing and sent defaults to a record high.

Lenders to Essar Steel India Ltd., the biggest mill being sold under the nation’s insolvency process, are voting to finalize a bid from ArcelorMittal, people with knowledge of the matter said. Arcelor has offered to make an upfront payment of about 395 billion rupees ($5.4 billion) to the banks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private, Bloomberg News reported. The Luxembourg-based suitor later plans to pay the lenders about 25 billion rupees from Essar Steel’s retained earnings, according to the people.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is arranging 220 billion yen ($2 billion) in financial support for its aircraft unit, which has struggled to deliver its first passenger plane, national broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday. Mitsubishi Heavy said in a statement that it was considering ways to resolve excess liabilities at the unit, but added it had not yet made any decisions, Reuters reported.

India’s non-bank financial companies have had a tough few months amid the fallout from defaults by one of their own, conglomerate IL&FS group, Bloomberg News reported. The next few months also present a challenge to the NBFCs, which rely heavily on debt issued to the nation’s money market funds for short-term financing. The financiers must repay about 1.2 trillion rupees ($16.3 billion) of commercial paper in October-December, near a record 1.46 trillion rupees in August-October, according to data from Securities and Exchange Board of India. The timing isn’t ideal.