A wave of defaults is sweeping across China’s Rmb1.3tn ($190bn) peer-to-peer lending industry, causing investors to withdraw funds and platforms to collapse, the latest casualties of Beijing’s broader crackdown on debt and financial risk, the Financial Times reported.  About 150 online lending platforms have suffered “problems” since the beginning of June this year, compared with 217 such cases in all of 2017, according to Online Lending House, a research group that tracks the industry.
Read more

India Shortchanges Its Banks

India needs a strategy to get the government out of banking. Non-performing loans among state-owned banks -- a legacy of India’s socialist past which account for nearly 70 percent of deposits -- have crossed 5 percent of GDP, a Bloomberg View reported. The central bank has restricted lending at 11 of them and forced one, IDBI Bank Ltd., to sell itself to the government-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India. State banks have repeatedly been a burden on the exchequer and will almost certainly continue to be so.
Read more
The economy of South Korea, which is very reliant on China, may see more adverse impact than previously expected from China’s plan for deleveraging, the Bank of Korea said in a report on Sunday, Bloomberg News reported. South Korea’s gross domestic product growth could be 0.3 percentage point less than expected in 2018 and maybe 1.2 percentage point less in 2020 because of Chin’s plan to cut financial risks by deleveraging, the central bank said in its report, citing data from Oxford Economics and Fitch.
Read more
Like other countries, China has bureaucratic infighting. But it does better than most at keeping tussles hidden from outside view, especially under Xi Jinping, a president who brooks no dissent. So it has been highly unusual to see a spat between the central bank and finance ministry spill into the open, The Economist reported. It reveals cracks in the government’s façade of unity as a campaign to control debt exacts a toll on the economy. The disagreement started on July 13th when Xu Zhong, head of the central bank’s research department, spoke at a forum in Beijing.
Read more
IBBI Chief M.S. Sahoo on Thursday said the process to put in place a framework for cross-border insolvency cases is under way. The government is keen to introduce a globally accepted and well-recognised cross-border insolvency framework, which would also make India an attractive investment destination for foreign creditors, given the increased predictability and certainty of the insolvency process, The Hindu reported. Asked about the status of cross-border insolvency, Mr. Sahoo said, comments have been invited.. and have also been received.
Read more
Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s second-largest company by market value, plans to raise about 400 billion rupees ($5.8 billion) in fresh debt this financial year as it expands its consumer businesses, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led company will raise funds through loans and bonds, mostly in the Indian currency, the people said asking not to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Read more
Russia's VTB Capital-backed Numetal on Tuesday said Ruia family scion Rewant will never be in management of Essar Steel even though the rules do not bar blood relations of delinquent promoters from bidding for loan defaulter companies being auctioned to recover dues, Firstpost reported. During the proceedings of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), senior advocate Mihir Thakore representing Numetal said that the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) does not disqualify anyone based on blood relations. Aurora Enterprises Ltd (AEL) had a 25 percent shareholding in Numetal.
Read more
Lenders to the bankrupt Videocon Industries have filed an insolvency petition against 13 subsidiaries of the Venugopal Dhoot-led company to recover their dues, sources close to the development told FE. Most of these subsidiaries are likely to be admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for insolvency proceeding by next month, Financial Express reported. The insolvency petition against Videocon Industries, which was filed by State Bank of India (SBI) in January, was admitted by the tribunal on June 6.
Read more
The Hyderabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has given its nod for Corporate Insolvency Resolution Proceedings (CIRP) to be initiated against Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, Bar & Bench reported. The company is publicly listed and has a paid-up share capital of over Rs. 57 crores. Judicial Member Bikki Raveendra Babu passed orders after hearing a petition filed by one of Ramky’s operational creditors, Todi Minerals Pvt Ltd.
Read more